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The  Civilization  of  the  Mayas 


BY 

J.  ERIC  THOMPSON 
Assistant  Curator  of  Mexican  and  South  American  Archaeology 


1  Map,  12  Text-figures,  14  Plates 


Anthropology 
Leaflet  25 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

CHICAGO 
1927 


The  Anthropological  Leaflets  of  Field  Museum  are  designed  to 
give  brief,  non-technical  accounts  of  some  of  the  more  interesting 
beliefs,  habits  and  customs  of  the  races  whose  life  is  illustrated 
in  the  Museum's  exhibits. 

LIST  OF  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  LEAFLETS  ISSUED  TO  DATE 

1.  The  Chinese  Gateway $  .10 

2.  The  Philippine  Forge  Group 10 

3.  The  Japanese  Collections 25 

4.  New  Guinea  Masks 25 

5.  The  Thunder  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee      .     .     .     .        .25 

6.  The  Sacrifice  to  the  Morning  Star  by  the 

Skidi  Pawnee 10 

7.  Purification  of  the  Sacred  Bundles,  a  Ceremony 

of  the  Pawnee 10 

8.  Annual  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee  Medicine  Men     .        ,10 

9.  The  Use  of  Sago  in  New  Guinea 10 

10.  Use  of  Human  Skulls  and  Bones  in  Tibet   .     .     .     .        .10 

11.  The  Japanese  New  Year's  Festival,  Games 

and  Pastimes 25 

12.  Japanese  Costume 25 

13.  Gods  and  Heroes  of  Japan .25 

14.  Japanese  Temples  and  Houses 25 

15.  Use  of  Tobacco  among  North  American  Indians     .        .25 

16.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America    .     .        .25 

17.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  New  Guinea 10 

18.  Tobacco  and  Its  Use  in  Asia 25 

19.  Introduction  of  Tobacco  into  Europe 25 

20.  The  Japanese  Sword  and  Its  Decoration 25 

21.  Ivory  in  China , 75 

22.  Insect-Musicians  and  Cricket  Champions  of  China    .        .50 

23.  Ostrich  Egg-shell  Cups  of  Mesopotamia  and  the 

Ostrich  in  Ancient  and  Modem  Times    ...        .50 

24.  The  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Chicago  Region  with 

Special  Reference  to  the  Illinois  and  the 
Potawatomi 25 

25.  Civilization  of  the  Mayas 75 

26.  Early  History  of  Man 25 


D.  C.  DAVIES,  Director 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 
CHICAGO.  U.  S.  A. 


Of  iHE 
UNlYEB^illf  Ur  \lUkm 


GULF  OF 
MEXICO 


MERIDA 

MAVAPAN*       •IZAMAU 

CHICHEN  ITZA»        •C08A'/1 
*\  •UXMAU    MACAN3?OC/'      V 
\«KABAH 
\»l-ABNA 

<^ 


K 

BAKHiAtLAl.* 

\CAMPECHE     '.      y» 

>•»  SANTA  RITA 

/TABASCd" 


OCOCINGO  -j-2 


••-PAUERiquE*  "r- 

PIEDRAS   NEQRA3*%f 
YAXCHIUAN*^ 


UAXACTUN • 
TIKAU* 


NARANJO 
/AXCHIUAN*  \*,^  „^  Cai    PPTEM<"    i-  a 

r  sEisAi-    >«ro 

'-<  ^  •    •QUEN  SANTO  {  -  ^ 

'<0^  !  LUBAANTUN* 


9UIRIGUA 


NEBAT* 
•UTATLAN 

GUATEMALA 


/•COPAN 

/HONDURAS 


^l-UCIA 


PACIFIC   OCEAN 


Map. 
The  Maya  Area  with  Principal  Cities. 


as 


\^^^  Tf!E  LIBRARY  or  nit 

DEC  1  9  1927 
UNIVthShV  0.    ♦c.niUlS 
Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

Department  of  Anthropology 

Chicago,  1927 

LBAFLET  NlTMBER  26 


Civilization  of  the  Mayas 


CONTENTS 

Page 

The  Dawn 2 

An  Outline  of  Maya  History 9 

Religion 23 

Quiche  Legends 39 

The  Calendar 46 

Religious  Ceremonies  and  Human  Sacrifice 60 

Social  Life 71 

"Warfare,  Art,  and  Architecture 84 

The  Maya  Collection  of  Field  Museum 94 

Chronological  Table  of  Maya  History 102 

Bibliographical  References 103 

Index 105 


THE  DAWN 

Some  day,  perhaps,  a  great  artist  will  paint  the 
discovery  of  America  with  historical  exactness.  Many 
pictures  exist  of  that  event  representing  Christopher 
Columbus  standing  on  the  prow  of  the  Santa  Maria 
gazing  at  the  new  continent.  Columbus,  however,  only 
discovered  America  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  Old 
World.  The  painting  we  hope  to  see  some  day  will  de- 
pict the  discovery  of  the  New  World  for  the  first  time. 
It  will  be  a  hard  subject:  the  artist  will  have  to  draw 
on  his  imagination  to  portray  the  features,  clothes,  and 
weapons  of  the  first  aborigines.  We  do  not  even  know 
how,  or  where,  or  when  they  arrived.  Probably  toward 
the  middle  of  Quaternary  times ;  perhaps  fifteen  thou- 
sand years  ago,  man  first  teod  on  American  soil.  In  all 
likelihood  there  existed  tlien  a  land  bridge  connecting 
northern  Asia  with  America.  We  can  only  guess  at  the 
habits  of  the  first  invaders  of  this  continent  by  com- 
paring them  with  their  fellowmen  who  lived  at  the 
same  period  in  western  Europe, — a  very  hazardous  ex- 
periment, as  the  mere  fact  that  two  peoples  are  con- 
temporaneous does  not  imply  that  they  are  on  the  same 
cultural  level.  However,  in  all  probability,  there  was 
a  general  resemblance  between  Upper  Palaeolithic  man 
of  western  Europe  and  the  invader  of  America,  and  so 
he  may  serve  as  our  type.  He  lived  either  out  in  the 
open  or  in  the  entrances  of  caves,  dressed  in  the  skins 
of  the  animals  he  slew  with  his  stone  or  bone  pointed 
spear.  He  employed  flint  for  his  weapons,  and  had  not 
yet  learnt  to  polish  hard  stone,  but  made  points  and 
harpoons  of  reindeer  bone.  He  was  an  artist,  too,  and 
showed  considerable  skill  in  carving  and  painting  the 
animals  he  hunted.  He  had  no  pottery,  agriculture,  or 
domestic  animals,  and  depended  entirely  on  hunting 
for  his  food ;  to  procure  a  good  bag  he  almost  certainly 


The  Dawn  3 

practised  magic  which  would  bring  in  its  train  a  regu- 
lar guild  of  sorcerers. 

Probably  the  first  immigrants  drifted  across  in 
small  bands  travelling  southward  slowly,  and  populat- 
ing in  the  course  of  thousands  of  years  the  whole 
American  continent.  Their  remains  found  in  caves  in 
Brazil  and  Chile  demonstrate  that  they  had  exceed- 
ingly long  heads,  low  retreating  foreheads,  and 
beetling  brows.  Broad-headed  people  followed  them  in 
sufficient  numbers  to  swamp  the  predecessors.  Later 
arrivals  may  have  brought  with  them  new  arts  and 
crafts,  new  religious  conceptions,  and  new  forms  of 
social  organization.  The  chief  cultivated  food  plants 
of  America,  such  as  maize,  squashes,  potatoes,  etc., 
are  natives  of  Mexico  or  South  America.  The  complete 
absence  of  the  leading  Old  World  food  plants  in  Ameri- 
ca, on  the  other  hand,  shows  that  the  immigrants  did 
not  bring  seed  with  them.  An  agricultural  people  is 
very  seldom  nomadic,  but  if  a  migration  takes  place, 
the  husbandman  will  not  leave  for  a  new  land  without 
the  one  necessity  for  existence,  namely  seed.  These 
later  immigrants  may  have  crossed  from  Siberia  to 
America  in  boats,  as  the  land  bridge  possibly  dis- 
appeared about  the  same  time  as  England  became  an 
island.  Immigration  across  the  Atlantic  can  be  ruled 
out  as  extremely  unlikely.  There  remains  the  Pacific. 
The  question  of  possible  arrivals  from  the  islands  of 
the  Pacific  is  debatable,  and  although  small  numbers 
may  have  reached  America  in  this  way  in  compara- 
tively late  times,  introducing  some  new  customs,  early 
immigration  on  a  large  scale  from  this  quarter  can  be 
fairly  safely  rejected. 

We  are  still  very  much  in  the  dark  as  regards  the 
history  of  America  in  the  hundred  to  hundred  and  fifty 
centuries  preceding  our  era.  Occasional  archaeological 
discoveries  enable  a  feeble  ray  of  light  to  be  flashed  on 
the  fringes  of  this  impenetrability,  but  the  past  is,  to 


4  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

change  the  metaphor,  like  some  distant  landscape, — 
two  or  three  objects,  detaching  themselves  from  their 
surroundings,  stand  out  prominently,  but  the  rest  of 
the  picture  is  lost  in  the  haze  of  distance.  There  are 
no  vast  accumulations  of  deposits  left  in  layers  in 
caves  by  the  original  inhabitants,  such  as  occur  in 
western  Europe,  and  allow  us  to  follow  the  stages  of 
development  step  by  step  from  the  times  of  the  last 
glaciation  to  the  age  of  copper  and  bronze.  The  Ameri- 
can Indian,  it  appears,  was  never  greatly  addicted  to 
caves  or  rock  shelters,  the  habitation  of  which,  in  the 
Old  World,  owing  to  their  scarcity,  is  often  continuous, 
but  preferred  open  land  on  which  to  camp.  As  any 
dry  land  near  water  was  suitable,  a  continuous  occu- 
pation of  any  one  site  is  extremely  unlikely  in  the  ab- 
sence of  agriculture. 

The  stage  of  agriculture  means  a  fundamental 
change  in  the  welfare  and  status  of  man.  The  acquisi- 
tion of  the  plough,  or  the  digging  stick  in  the  case  of 
America,  enables  a  nomadic  people  to  become  a  settled 
community.  The  eternal  pre-occupation  of  whence  the 
next  meal  is  to  come  gives  place  to  a  sense  of  security 
accompanied  by  leisure  which  in  many  cases  may  mean 
time  for  invention.  A  larger  population  can  be  main- 
tained, bringing  in  its  train  specialization, — a  further 
incentive  to  invention. 

The  relatively  dense  agricultural  population  sup- 
plies us  with  what  we  could  not  find  in  the  hunting 
communities  of  America — stratigraphy. 

A  long  series  of  excavations  made  in  the  Valley  of 
Mexico  City  during  the  course  of  the  last  fifteen  years 
has  shown  a  clear  case  of  superposition  of  one  culture 
on  another.  Pottery  objects  occur  from  the  surface  to 
a  depth  which  in  some  cases  in  as  much  as  thirty  feet 
below  the  surface.  The  excavations  at  Azcapotzalco 
may  be  taken  as  typical  of  those  made  throughout  the 
area. 


The  Dawn  5 

Azcapotzcalco  is  a  town  at  present  of  little  im- 
portance, but  formerly  it  was  one  of  the  three  great 
cities  of  the  Mexican  Valley.  It  lies  a  few  miles  north- 
west of  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  at  one  time  was  close 
to  the  slopes  of  Lake  Texcoco ;  but  owing  to  the  shrink- 
age of  the  water,  it  is  now  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  lake.  It  was  the  capital  of  the  Tecpanec,  a 
nomadic  tribe  akin  to,  though  preceding  by  centuries, 
the  better  known  Aztecs,  who  were  very  late  immi- 
grants into  the  Mexican  Valley  and  who  on  their  ar- 
rival were  of  such  little  importance  that  they  were 
only  too  pleased  to  have  the  protection  of  the  ruler  of 
Azcapotzalco. 

Excavations  have  revealed  some  twenty-five  feet 
of  culture-bearing  strata.  Near  the  surface  exist 
pieces  of  pottery,  implements  and  utensils,  and  little 
pottery  gods  known  as  figurines  of  Aztec  type.  Below 
this  is  found  a  layer,  some  six  or  seven  feet  thick,  of 
similar  objects  of  a  type  akin  to  those  found  in  the 
ruins  of  Teotihuacan  and  which  from  traditions  we 
believe  to  date  from  about  the  seventh  century  a.d. 
Underneath,  for  a  depth  of  nearly  eighteen  feet,  there 
is  a  layer  which  contains  remains  of  the  "Archaic" 
civilization,  as  it  is  called. 

Attempts  to  date  the  lowest  levels  of  this  deposit 
by  calculating  the  rate  of  accumulations  for  each  cen- 
tury have  been  made,  but  at  the  best  this  is  a  very 
rough  and  ready  and  hardly  reliable  method.  How- 
ever, similar  objects  have  been  found  in  burials  on  the 
outskirts  of  Mexico  City  beneath  a  cap  of  lava,  which 
on  geological  grounds  is  believed  to  have  been  de- 
posited by  an  eruption  that  occurred  about  1000  B.C. 
at  the  latest.  Thus  it  may  be  stated  with  some  cer- 
tainty that  this  "Archaic"  civilization  is  at  least  three 
thousand  years  old. 

Pottery  is  found  in  this  layer,  usually  of  a  rather 
simple  character.  The  decoration  is  usually  of  faces  in 


6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

relief.  Paint  is  sometimes  used  for  simple  geometric 
designs,  which  show  obvious  signs  of  having  been  de- 
rived from  textile  designs ;  weaving  therefore  may  be 
added  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  Archaics.  The 
pottery  vessels  are  often  supplied  with  three  feet, 
sometimes  plain,  sometimes  modelled  as  faces  or  feet, 
and  usually  hollow  with  a  slit  running  down  the  inside. 
Pottery  figurines  are  very  common  (Fig.  1).  They  are 
coarsely  made:  usually  the  head  alone  occurs,  poorly 
shaped  with  protruding  eyes  and  lips  made  by  adding 
lumps  of  clay;  the  head-dress  often  takes  the  form  of 
a  double-banded  turban.  Paint  is  of  common  occur- 
rence. Full  figures  of  men  or  women  occur,  in  many 
cases  nude,  in  others  showing  signs  of  tattoo,  ear-rings 
and  nose-rings.  The  extremities  of  the  limbs  are  usu- 
ally out  of  proportion  and  poorly  modelled.  Stone 
statuettes  showing  the  same  art  occur,  but  they  are 
more  usual  in  southern  Mexico.  Sometimes  the  pottery 
figurines  are  standing,  at  other  times  sitting.  They 
are  represented  with  weapons,  playing  on  drums,  or, 
in  the  case  of  women,  nursing  their  children.  Perhaps 
many  of  them  were  meant  to  represent  the  dead,  as 
they  are  often  found  in  graves. 

The  Archaic  civilization  is  found  over  an  area  ex- 
tending from  north-west  Mexico  to  Ecuador,  Colombia, 
and  Venezuela.  The  worship  of  the  serpent  which 
played  such  an  important  part  in  the  religion  of  the 
Mayas  seems  to  have  been  of  very  little  importance 
among  the  Archaics,  although  serpent  designs  on  Ar- 
chaic pottery  are  occasionally  met  with. 

The  steps  by  which  the  Archaic  civilization  gradu- 
ally evolved  into  the  culture  which  with  Maya  influ- 
ence was  to  form  the  basis  of  the  civilization  of  the 
Plateau  can  be  traced  with  some  certainty  at  Azcapot- 
zalco,  or  any  of  the  other  sites  of  excavations,  but  this 
is  another  story,  outside  the  scope  of  this  book.  The 
effect  of  the  Archaic  civilization  on  the  development 


The  Dawn 


Fig.  1. 
Archaic  Figurines. 
In  Field  Museum. 


8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

of  Maya  culture  is  a  difficult  subject.  It  was  no  doubt 
very  great,  and  further  excavation  may  supply  us  with 
the  links  that  will  definitely  show  how  the  former  was 
the  basis  on  which  the  latter  was  built;  but  for  the 
present  we  must  take  a  leap  from  the  Archaic  to  the 
early  Maya,  conjecturing  that  the  Maya  culture  was 
evolved  to  a  large  extent  from  a  localized  development 
of  the  Archaic  and  then,  moving  out  from  its  birth- 
place, was  re-engrafted  in  Central  America  onto  the 
same  Archaic  stock  from  which  a  branch  of  it  had 
evolved. 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  MAYA  HISTORY 

When  Cortez  and  his  band  of  pilla^ng  adven- 
turers swept  through  Mexico  and  Central  America 
with  flaming  torch  in  one  hand  and  the  cross  in  the 
other,  Copan  and  the  other  great  Maya  cities  of  the 
Old  Empire  remained  unmoved.  Centuries  before  the 
great  Aztec  Empire  was  humbled  to  the  dust,  and  the 
proud  Montezuma  lay  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spaniards,  the  Mayas  had  abandoned  the  great  cities 
they  had  raised  stone  by  stone,  and  had  surrendered 
to  the  ever  encroaching  forest  the  broad  acres  of  maize 
that  surrounded  them. 

The  original  home  of  the  Mayas  is  still  a  matter 
for  conjecture,  but  there  is  some  reason  for  believing 
that  they  hailed  from  the  district  around  Vera  Cruz. 
To  this  day  there  live  around  Vera  Cruz  and  extending 
northward  as  far  as  the  Panuco,  two  tribes,  the  Toto- 

i  nac  and,  to  the  north  of  them,  the  Huaxtec,  who  speak 
a  dialect  of  the  Maya  tongue  and  whose  culture  bears 
a  strong  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Mayas.  Althou^ 
the  earliest  Maya  cities  are  situated  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  Vera  Cruz  district,  it  is  interesting  to  note 

I    that  the  earliest  dated  object  of  Maya  workmanship 

I  as  yet  discovered  was  found  on  the  route  that  would 
have  been  followed  by  migrants  travelling  from  the 
Vera  Cruz  district  to  Uaxactun,  in  northern  Guate- 
mala, the  earliest  known  Maya  city.   This  date  is  in- 

I  scribed  on  a  little  jadeite  statuette  found  at  San  Andres 
Tuxtla  in  the  province  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  is  some  hun- 
dred and  sixty  years  earlier  than  the  first  date  at 
Uaxactun,  about  a.d.  160,  whereas  the  Uaxactun  date 
is  about  A.D.  320.  The  Goodman  correlation  is  followed 
in  this  book.  Those  who  are  convinced  by  Morley's 
arguments  have  only  to  make  the  dates  in  every  case 
260  years  earlier.  It  would  indeed  be  a  coincidence  that 


10  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  earliest  Maya  should  also  be  the  only  dated  ob- 
ject that  has  been  found  outside  the  Maya  area.  We 
can  reasonably  conjecture  that  the  main  branch  of  the 
Mayas  migrated  toward  Central  America,  leaving  be- 
hind the  Huaxtec,  who  may  have  been  on  a  slightly 
lower  cultural  level  than  their  kindred  migrants.  Their 
I  astronomical  skill  and  highly  complicated  calendar 
could  not  have  been  evolved  during  their  journeyings. 
Hence  we  may  assume  that  these  were  acquired  before 
the  pilgrimage  began.  Possibly  they  had  been  sepa- 
rated from  their  Huaxtec  kin  for  a  considerable  period 
before  their  journey  eastward.  Uaxactun  was  discov- 
ered in  1916  by  an  expedition  of  the  Carnegie  Insti- 
tution. It  is  in  the  Peten  district  of  Guatemala,  some 
fifteen  miles  north-west  of  Tikal,  another  early  Maya 
settlement,  and  some  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
south-east  of  San  Andres  Tuxtla. 

Although  no  other  city  has  revealed  up  to  the 
present  any  date  so  early  as  that  of  Uaxactun,  this 
does  not  necessarily  mean  that  this  city  is  the  oldest. 
There  is  every  reason  to  assume  that  many  early  dates 
were  carved  in  wood  which  after  so  many  centuries  of 
exposure  has  rotted  away.  However,  some  good  wood- 
carving,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  and  in  Basle  Mu- 
seum has  been  preserved  from  Yaxchilan  (Menche). 
The  large  number  of  uncarved  stelae  suggest  also  that 
in  early  times  dates  were  painted  on  the  stelae,  instead 
of  being  carved.  We  know  that  the  stelae  were  often, 
if  not  invariably,  painted,  although  in  most  cases  no 
traces  of  paint  now  remain.  During  the  centuries  of 
abandonment,  nature  has  fulfilled  her  mission  of  de- 
struction and  disintegration  only  too  well. 

The  chief  early  Maya  cities,  all  dating  from  the 
first  quarter  of  the  ninth  cycle  (a.d.  436 — 534)  are 
Tikal,  Palenque,  Copan.  The  last  by  far  was  of  the 
greatest  importance.  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether 
the  old  Maya  Empire  was  divided  into  a  number  of 


Outline  op  Maya  History  11 

city  states  as  was  ancient  Greece.  If  that  were  the 
case,  Copan  was  certainly  the  Athens  of  Central  Ameri- 
ca. By  the  magnificence  and  number  of  her  buildings 
and  sculptures  she  far  outstripped  the  other  cities,  and 
in  addition  she  seems  to  have  been  the  great  astro- 
nomical and  possibly  the  sacred  centre  of  the  Old  Em- 
pire. A  number  of  sculptured  altars  seem  to  portray 
a  great  astronomical  or  sacred  conference.  A  series  of 
figures,  richly  garbed,  are  seated  facing  toward  a  sculp- 
tured date  which  from  its  repeated  occurrence  must 
have  been  of  considerable  importance. 

The  great  hieroglyphic  stairway  at  Copan,  un- 
fortunately to  a  large  extent  destroyed,  was  unsur- 
passed for  magnificence.  The  city  at  its  greatest  pe- 
riod, towards  the  close  of  the  ninth  cycle,  must  have 
been  an  imposing  centre,  of  unsurpassed  grandeur, 
with  its  great  temple-topped  mounds  and  clusters  of 
courts,  its  innumerable  carved  stelae,  and  its  great 
walls  sweeping  down  to  the  river.  Even  at  present, 
where  all  is  ruin  and  destruction  and  the  vandal  hands 
from  the  village  near-by  complete  the  destruction 
wrought  by  the  engulfing  forest  with  its  giant-rooted 
trees  that  tear  great  gaping  wounds  in  the  monuments, 
Copan  retains  its  by-gone  splendor.  In  the  second  and 
third  quarters  of  the  ninth  cycle  (a.d.  534 — 731) ,  large 
numbers  of  new  cities  arose, — Piedras  Negras,  Na- 
ranjo,  Yaxchilan,  and  Quirigua,  to  name  only  the  most 
important.  Quirigua  was  in  all  probability  a  colony 
from  Copan,  and  in  the  artistic  beauty  of  its  stelae 
surpassed  even  the  mother  city.  It  will  be  noticed  by 
a  reference  to  the  map  that  whereas  the  earliest  cities 
were  far  apart,  Palenque  and  Copan  forming  the  feet 
of  a  triangle  that  had  its  apex  in  the  cities  of  Uaxac- 
tun  and  Tikal,  the  newer  cities  were  for  the  most  part 
built  within  this  triangle.  As  a  rule  one  expects  ex- 
pansion from  the  centre  outward,  but  the  Mayas 
worked  inward. 


17 


12  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

A  period  of  unexampled  prosperity  intervened. 
City  after  city  arose,  and  the  population  must  have 
been  very  dense.  The  dwelling  houses,  which  were 
made  of  wood,  thatch,  and  adobe,  have  crumbled  into 
ruins,  leaving  no  trace  behind,  but  the  close  proximity 
of  the  cities  with  their  innumerable  artificial  mounds, 
palaces,  and  temples  must  have  demanded  the  labor 
of  a  huge  population  for  their  erection. 

War  scenes  are  almost  entirely  absent  from  the 
sculpture  of  the  south-eastern  cities.  There  are,  how- 
ever, a  few  scenes  that  may  represent  prisoners  being 
brought  in  captive,  and  one  or  two  armed  warriors  are 
found  sculptured  on  the  monuments  of  the  north- 
western area.  We  may  safely  conclude,  however,  that 
the  Mayas  were  living  in  peace  among  themselves  and 
that  war  was  confined  to  the  repulsion  of  invading 
hordes  descending  from  Mexico.  Militarism  or  civil 
war  would  have  put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  building 
operations  and  artistry  that  characterize  the  great 
period  of  the  Old  Empire.  The  marked  resemblance  in 
the  motifs  and  designs  of  the  sculptures  throughout 
the  area  at  this  period  point  to  very  extensive  inter- 
course, even  fashions  in  clothes  and  headgear  seem  to 
have  been  widely  diffused. 

Just  as  Athens  was  crushed  at  the  very  height  of 
her  power,  so  the  Maya  Empire  was  destined  to  fall 
within  a  century  of  her  greatest  period.  In  the  closing 
bi-decade  of  the  ninth  cycle,  one  by  one  these  proud 
cities  were  abandoned.  One  or  two,  such  as  Tikal, 
lingered  on  into  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  cycle,  but 
by  A.D.  870  the  last  city  of  the  Old  Empire  had  been 
deserted,  and  the  Mayas  had  set  off  on  their  wander- 
ings. 

Many  theories  have  been  brought  forward  to  ac- 
count for  this  exodus.  The  view  has  been  advanced 
that  the  Mayas  were  forced  to  evacuate  territory  ow- 
ing to  pressure  from  Mexican  invaders.   Although  we 


Outline  of  Maya  History  18 

know  that  great  racial  movements  were  taking  place 
about  this  time  on  the  highlands  of  Mexico,  which 
must  have  made  themselves  felt  over  large  areas,  it 
is  very  doubtful  that  this  was  indeed  the  main  reason. 
If  the  Mayas  abandoned  their  territory  in  face  of  the 
invaders  from  the  north,  it  would  be  only  natural  to 
expect  that  the  cities,  instead  of  becoming  deserted, 
would  merely  have  changed  their  ownership,  but  such 
is  not  the  case. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  wasteful  methods  of 
agriculture  made  conditions  harder  and  harder  for  the 
Mayas  in  the  old  cities  and  that  eventually  city  after 
city  had  to  be  abandoned  owing  to  the  exhaustion  of 
the  surrounding  soil.  This  would  have  resulted  in  an 
annual  decline  of  production,  which  continued  until 
famine  stared  the  inhabitants  of  city  after  city  in  the 
face.  The  Maya  system  of  agriculture  was  primitive, 
and  still  is  so  among  the  present  Mayas. 

Land  suitable  for  agriculture  was  prepared  by 
burning  off  the  trees  and  undergrowth.  After  the 
rains,  the  sower,  armed  with  a  bag  of  seed  and  a 
sharp-pointed  stick,  crossed  and  recrossed  the  field, 
making  a  hole  with  his  stick  in  the  ground  at  every 
pace,  and  throwing  a  few  grains  of  maize  into  the  pit. 
Maize  was  the  staple  food  of  civilized  America,  and  in 
the  absence  of  Old  World  cereals,  no  good  rotation  of 
crops  was  possible.  Maize,  even  with  good  preparation 
of  the  soil  made  possible  by  deep  ploughing  and  long 
harrowing,  can  be  sown  only  two  or  three  years  con- 
secutively on  the  same  land.  At  the  end  of  this  period 
the  field  was  abandoned,  and  the  Maya  farmer  marked 
out  a  new  piece  of  land  to  be  cleared  and  sown.  In 
the  course  of  time  and  with  the  large  increase  of  popu- 
lation that  undoubtedly  occurred,  the  Mayas  must  have 
been  driven  farther  and  farther  afield  in  search  of 
virgin  soil.  The  exhausted  soils  nearer  home  must 
have  been  resown  after  shorter  and  shorter  periods  of 


f 


14  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

recuperation.  In  time  the  yield  of  the  district  would 
have  fallen  below  the  level  of  consumption,  and  faced 
with  the  alternative  of  evacuation  or  starvation,  the 
people  chose  the  former.  Whether  this  suggestion  is 
correct  or  not,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  it  is  the 
most  plausible  yet  advanced. 

Possibly  too  the  fact  that  a  thick  turf  tends  to  re- 
place the  forest  growths  after  several  consecutive 
clearings  may  have  been  an  important  factor  in  the 
process  of  exhaustion.  Where  such  thick  sward  had 
taken  root  the  Mayas  with  their  primitive  agricultural 
methods  were  unable  to  plant  their  crops.  Whatever 
the  causes,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  parting 
must  have  been  a  bitter  one.  It  can  have  been  no  light 
sacrifice  to  abandon  the  magnificent  cities  that  com- 
memorated the  labor  and  devotion  of  centuries,  and 
to  sally  forth  into  the  unknown  to  start  afresh.  Israel 
in  captivity,  weeping  over  Jerusalem,  had  less  to 
mourn  than  the  Maya  exile;  for  the  Jews,  although 
far  from  their  homeland,  had  at  least  the  consolation 
of  living  in  civilized  surroundings  of  greater  magnifi- 
cence than  Jerusalem.  Whereas  the  Maya  was  set 
down  in  a  new  inhospitable  land,  bare  of  all  the  luxu- 
ries and  beauty  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  in 
his  old  home.  One  branch  of  the  Mayas  travelled 
toward  the  south-west,  settling  at  Quen  Santo,  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  Sierra  Madre  Mountains,  where  the 
present  states  of  Guatemala  and  Mexico  meet,  but  the 
vast  majority  of  the  peoples  of  the  Old  Empire  turned 
northward,  advancing  into  northern  Yucatan  by  way 
of  the  east  coast. 

This  great  break  in  the  Maya  civilization  also  syn- 
chronizes with  the  advent  of  a  new  source  of  informa- 
tion. The  Maya  scholar,  who  has  hitherto  been  forced 
to  depend  for  all  his  information  on  what  can  be 
gleaned  from  the  monuments,  has  now  at  his  disposal 
the  traditions  and  chronicles  of  several  of  the  ruling 


Outline  op  Maya  History  16 

families  of  the  New  Empire,  which,  though  differing 
on  some  points,  are  on  the  whole  in  fairly  close  agree- 
ment. They  help  to  bridge  a  gap  in  a  period  of  which 
otherwise  we  should  be  woefully  ignorant. 

These  accounts,  which  were  originally  in  hiero- 
glyphs, were  luckily  reduced  to  writing  in  the  six- 
teenth century  before  their  interpretation  was  for- 
gotten.    They  are  written  in  the  Zuyua  (Maya)  lan-^ 
guage,  but  Latin  script  is  employed.    A  rough  outlined 
of  Maya  history  is  given  from  the  time  Mayas  settled  I 
in  Yucatan  until  after  the  Spanish  conquest,  which  en-  i 
ables  us  to  correlate  with  accuracy  to  within  a  year  the 
Maya  dates  with  those  of  our  era.    A  list  of  the  Katuns 
(periods  of  twenty  years)  are  given  that  stretch  over 
a  period  of  some  eight  hundred  years,  and  their  general : 
accuracy  is  confirmed  by  archaeological  data. 

The  first  settlement  of  Yucatan  took  place  as  early 
as  the  third  quarter  of  cycle  9,  before  the  Old  Empire 
cities  of  Copan,  Naranjo,  etc.,  had  reached  the  height 
of  their  power.  This  settlement  seems  to  have  taken 
the  form  of  a  gradual  infiltration  of  northern  Yucatan 
by  way  of  the  east  coast  of  the  peninsula.  Tulum,  an 
important  site  on  the  east  coast,  had  been  settled  by 
A.D.  700.  Inland,  in  a  line  running  roughly  west  from 
there,  Coba  and  Chichen  Itza  had  also  been  founded. 

The  geological  conditions  of  Yucatan  are  very 
different  from  those  obtaining  in  the  area  of  the  Old 
Empire,  which  is  covered  by  a  close  network  of  water 
courses  and  streams.  Yucatan  is  entirely  destitute  of 
running  water  and,  were  it  not  for  a  number  of  natural 
wells  known  as  cenotes,  would  be  uninhabitable,  as 
most  of  the  peninsula  is  a  vast  limestone  plain  through 
which  the  rain  rapidly  percolates.  Breaches  in  the 
limestone  occur  at  a  number  of  places,  forming  these 
cenotes,  and  at  Chichen  Itza  there  were  at  least  two 
very  large  ones  that  made  it  an  ideal  spot  for  settle- 


16  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

ment.  The  name  Chichen  Itza,  in  fact,  means  "mouth 
of  the  wells  of  the  Itza"  in  Zuyua  (Maya). 

The  Itza  were  the  Maya  tribe  who  first  settled 
at  this  spot.  Their  settlement  lasted  two  hundred  and 
twenty  years.  They  then  abandoned  the  city  and 
moved  across  to  Champotun  (Chakanputun)  on  the 
west  coast,  where  they  lived  in  peace  a  period  of  two 
hundred  and  sixty  years.  About  twenty  years  after 
the  Itza  had  settled  at  Champotun,  another  tribe  known 
as  the  Xiu  moved  into  Yucatan  and  settled  at  Bakhalal 
on  the  east  coast  of  Yucatan.  After  sixty  years'  resi- 
dence at  this  spot  they  moved  to  Chichen  Itza,  which 
had  remained  unoccupied  since  its  abandonment  by  the 
Itza.  Here  they  remained  a  further  hundred  years 
until,  as  the  native  accounts  cryptically  state,  "Chichen 
Itza  was  destroyed."  The  Xius  then  proceeded  to 
Champotun,  where,  attacking  the  Itza,  they  drove  them 
out  of  the  city  and  settled  there  themselves.  The  Itza 
wandered  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  suffering  great 
hardship.  "The  Itza  wandered,  sleeping  in  the  woods 
amid  the  rocks  and  wild  vegetation,  suffering  great 
privations,"  to  quote  from  their  chronicles.  In  the  pre- 
conquest  historical  codices,  now  unfortunately  lost, 
one  imagines  these  scenes  were  painted  with  great 
vividness,  but  in  the  script  this  is  all  condensed  into 
one  tense  sentence. 

At  last,  about  the  year  a.d.  1250,  Chichen  Itza 
was  reoccupied.  The  Maya  dark  ages  were  over,  the 
renaissance  was  at  hand.  These  perpetual  shiftings 
that  had  lasted  close  on  four  hundred  years  had  had 
a  drastic  effect  on  Maya  civilization:  thg-^ait  which 
had  been  the  glory  of  the  Old  Empire  had  suffered  a 
blow  from  which  it  never  recovered ;  the  sculptures  of 
Yucatan  never  reached  the  high  level  attained  in  the 
ninth  cycle,  and  stucco  work  in  many  cases  took  the 
place  of  stone  engri\ings7~A£cllitecture,  on  the  other 
hand,  received  an  impetus,  once  settled  conditions  ob- 


Outline  op  Maya  History  17 

tained,  that  led  to  a  great  development  and  the  con- 
struction of  edifices  which  for  size  and  decoration  were 
far  superior  to  those  of  the  earlier  civilization.  Fa§ade 
work  became  very  prominent,  and  although  naturalis- 
tic work  is  not  very  frequent,  some  very  pleasing  geo- 
metrical designs  were  evolved. 

Shortly  after  the  resettlement  of  Chichen  Itza  an 
alliance  was  concluded  between  the  Itza  and  the  rulers 
of  Mayapan  and  Uxmal,  both  Maya  cities.  Mayapan, 
the  great  centre  of  the  worship  of  Kuculcan,  the 
feathered  snake  god,  seems  to  have  been  the  para- 
mount partner  in  the  triple  alliance  from  the  first. 
Chichen  Itza  was  the  great  religious  centre  of  later 
times,  and  Uxmal  held  a  position  of  ominous  impor- 
tance in  the  league. 

The  two  following  centuries  during  which  the  al- 
liance endured  form  a  period  of  great  prosperity.  The 
three  city  states  between  them  dominated  the  whole 
of  northern  Yucatan,  and  were  able,  undoubtedly,  to 
exert  their  influence  on  the  whole  Maya-speaking 
world,  extending  as  it  did  almost  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific.  The  chief  cities  waxed  mighty,  new  colonies 
were  established,  and  new  temples  and  palaces  arose 
on  all  sides.  The  New  Empire  had  successfully  passed 
the  trials  of  the  dark  ages  and  bid  fair  to  outstrip  in 
power  and  magnificence  its  forerunner  in  Guatemala. 
The  fates  ordained  otherwise:  the  monster  of  disrup- 
tion, still  so  characteristic  of  these  areas,  raised  its 
head.  Civil  war  broke  out,  and  progress  received  a 
fresh  check. 

The  circumstances  that  led  up  to  the  destruction 
of  the  league  are  a  little  obscure.  The  different  ver- 
sions show  evident  signs  of  partisanship,  but  although 
they  vary  as  to  to  whom  the  blame  should  be  assigned, 
the  story  in  brief  is  this. 

Mayapan  had  become  the  dominant  partner  in 
the  league.    Her  ruling  family,  the  Cocomes,  became 


18  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

somewhat  harsh  and  domineering,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence the  ruler  of  Chichen  Itza,  a  certain  Chac  Xib 
Chac,  plotted  against  Hunnac  Ceel,  the  head  of  the 
Cocom  family.  War  ensued,  and  Mayapan  with  the 
help  of  Mexican  mercenaries,  drove  out  Chac  Xib  Chac. 

Influences  from  Mexico  had  undoubtedly  made 
themselves  felt  at  Chichen  Itza  considerably  earlier 
than  this  first  mention  of  them  in  the  historical  out- 
line. There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Mexicans  reached 
Chichen  Itza  at  the  time  the  Itza  returned  to  their  old 
capital  and  the  league  of  Mayapan  was  established 
(about  A.D.  1260).  These  Mexican  invaders  probably 
hailed  from  the  area  bounded  by  the  modern  states  of 
Puebla  and  Vera  Cruz,  and  were  probably  of  Toltec 
affinities,  both  cultural  and  racial.  They  were  instru- 
mental in  introducing  a  new  religion,  a  new  art,  and 
possibly  new  methods  of  warfare.  Apparently  they  es- 
tablished their  rule  at  Chichen  Itza,  and  the  profound 
influence  they  exerted  can  be  seen  to  this  day  in  the 
large  number  of  beautiful  palaces,  temples,  and  colon- 
nades they  caused  to  be  erected.  Their  religious  life 
centered  round  the  cult  of  Quetzalcoatl,  the  feathered 
serpent  god,  all-powerful  divinity  of  the  earth  and  sky, 
who  was  represented  by  a  rattle-snake  from  whose 
body  grew  feathers  and  from  whose  mouth  often  pro- 
truded a  human  head.  There  seems  reason  to  believe 
that  this  worship  of  the  feathered  serpent  originated, 
possibly  as  an  esoteric  cult,  among  the  Mayas  them- 
selves, and  now  as  an  exoteric  and  debased  religion 
was  re-introduced  to  them  from  Mexico. 

The  Nahua  immigrants  too  seem  to  have  been  re- 
sponsible for  the  introduction  of  human  sacrifice,  and 
to  them  was  due  the  inception  of  the  series  of  re- 
ligious practices  that  centered  round  the  great  cenote 
or  sacred  well  of  Chichen  Itza.  Sacrifices,  both  of 
humans  and  of  precious  objects  of  gold,  jade,  etc., 
were  cast  into  the  well  as  a  propitiation  of  Chac,  the 


Outline  op  Maya  History  19 

all-powerful  god  of  rain,  and  as  an  inducement  to 
him  to  bless  his  dutiful  worshippers  with  abundant 
rain  at  the  right  season.  Should  a  victim  cast  into  the 
well  at  dawn  be  still  alive  at  mid-day,  he  was  hauled 
up  the  fifty  or  sixty  feet  of  precipitous  cliffs  that  di- 
vided the  surface  of  the  pool  from  the  brink  of  the 
great  well,  and  was  apparently  raised  to  very  high 
rank;  for  he  was  considered  to  have  possessed  divine 
power  in  order  to  be  able  to  survive  so  long.  The 
Mexican  immigrants  also  introduced  tlaxtli,  a  ball 
game  (see  p.  79),  the  use  of  colonnades,  Atlantean  fig- 
ures, flat-roofed  buildings,  and,  most  important  of  all, 
the  constant  use  of  the  feathered  serpent  as  an  orna- 
mental motif.  Practically  every  building  at  Chichen 
Itza  built  after  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury has  a  decorative  scheme  in  which  the  plumed  ser- 
pent is  the  chief  motif. 

In  some  buildings  the  door  portals  are  giant  feath- 
ered serpents  with  their  heads  on  the  ground  and  tails 
in  the  air.  In  other  cases  the  feathered  serpents 
form  the  giant  balustrades  that  guard  the  flanks  of 
the  stairways  that  lead  up  to  the  temples.  On  many 
structures  too  of  this  period  the  feathered  serpent 
is  carved  in  relief,  usually  upon  the  exterior  walls. 

Bishop  Landa  writes  that  an  actual  person,  called 
Kuculcan,  came  from  the  West  and  became  chief  of 
Chichen  Itza,  where  he  led  an  ascetic  life,  introducing 
the  arts  of  writing  and  agriculture.  He  was  also  be- 
lieved to  have  founded  Mayapan,  and  after  residing 
some  time  in  Yucatan  to  have  gone  to  Campeche,  and 
there  embarked  for  Mexico.  Undoubtedly,  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  truth  in  this  story  of  Kuculcan,  but  with 
our  present  knowledge  of  Maya  history  it  is  difficult 
to  assign  a  particular  period  to  his  life.  Possibly  his 
arrival  coincided  with  the  return  of  the  Itza  to  Chichen 
Itza,  when  there  is  reason  to  believe  Mexican  influence 
first  made  itself  felt  in  Yucatan. 


20  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

The  Mexican  mercenaries,  however,  who  helped 
Mayapan  to  defeat  Chichen  Itza,  were  probably  a  fresh 
band  of  Nahua  immigrants,  who,  though  few  in  num- 
ber, proved  a  decisive  factor  in  the  war  owing  to  their 
use  of  the  bow  and  arrow. 

On  the  fall  of  Chichen  Itza,  the  Itza  moved  south 
out  of  Yucatan  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Peten  in  Guate- 
mala where  they  established  themselves  anew,  not  far 
from  the  original  homes  of  their  ancestors,  who  had 
lived  in  this  district  at  the  time  of  the  first  Empire. 
Here  on  the  island  of  Tayasal  in  the  middle  of  Lake 
Peten,  the  Itza  continued  to  flourish,  and  repulsing  all 
attempts  of  the  friars  to  christianize  them,  preserved 
their  independence  until  the  year  1697,  a  century  and 
a  half  after  their  kinsmen  of  northern  Yucatan  had 
submitted  to  the  yoke  of  Spain.  Thus  the  Peten  area 
of  Guatemala  that  had  first  seen  the  light  of  Maya  civi- 
lization grow  to  a  steady  flame,  was  to  witness  too  its 
last  feeble  glimmer  before  it  was  extinguished  for  ever. 

Mayapan  won  the  first  stage  of  the  war,  but,  like 
Sparta  after  the  overthrow  of  Athens,  she  was  not 
long  to  enjoy  her  triumph  in  peace.  Within  a  very 
few  years  the  tyranny  and  exactions  of  Mayapan 
caused  another  outbreak  of  fighting.  This  time  she 
lost  the  fight.  Mayapan  was  overthrown,  and  the  city 
was  razed  to  the  ground.  The  whole  family  of  the 
Cocomes,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  one  relative 
who  was  absent  in  another  part  of  the  country,  was 
massacred.  So  ended  the  rule  of  Mayapan. 

The  fall  of  Mayapan  meant  the  end  of  all  central- 
ized government.  Every  city  and  town  became  in  all 
but  name  independent.  Small  puny  leaders  rose  like 
mushrooms  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Yu- 
catan, for  ever  fighting  among  themselves  and  ever 
pushing  the  country  farther  along  the  path  that  leads 
down  to  barbarism.  In  addition  to  the  breaking  down 
of  all  organized  government,  the  country  suffered  a 


Outline  op  Maya  History  21 

series  of  disasters  that  decimated  the  population  and 
hurried  on  still  more  the  approaching  degradation.  A 
great  hurricane  swept  the  country,  hurling  the  trees 
to  the  ground  and  destroying  whole  towns.  In  many 
cases  the  houses  that  crashed  to  the  ground  were  burnt, 
and  the  inhabitants  entrapped  beneath  the  wreckage 
roasted  alive.  The  destruction  must  have  been  colossal, 
as  the  Spaniards  reported  that  no  big  trees  existed  on 
their  arrival,  merely  masses  of  young  trees  which  had 
been  planted  in  attempts  at  re-afforestation. 

A  few  years  later  a  disease  attacked  the  crops  and 
fruit  just  before  harvest;  famine  ensued,  and  large 
numbers  died  from  starvation.  Next  followed  plague, 
which  swept  over  the  country,  causing  further  depopu- 
lation, until,  as  Bishop  Landa  says,  it  was  marvellous 
that  even  the  small  population  that  existed  on  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Spaniards  had  survived. 

These  disasters,  terrible  as  they  were,  were  mere 
harbingers  of  worse  to  come.  Slavery,  massacre, 
foreign  oppression,  the  destruction  of  their  religion, 
the  rape  of  their  womenfolk  awaited  them  at  the  hands 
of  the  Spaniards, — a  sad  end  for  the  greatest  civiliza- 
tion America  had  ever  produced,  but  an  end  that  was 
shared,  too,  by  the  other  empires  of  the  New  World, 
the  Aztec,  Chibcha,  and  Inca.  Their  learning,  art,  and 
courage  availed  them  little  against  the  more  modern 
weapons  and  armor  of  the  Spaniard. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  several  prophecies 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards  have  been  recorded. 
One  oracle  announced  that  soon  the  country  would  be 
ruled  over  by  a  foreign  race,  who  would  preach  one 
god  and  the  wonderful  virtue  of  a  piece  of  wood.  Pos- 
sibly the  Mayas  had  received  information  of  the  ar- 
rival and  activities  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  In- 
dies. An  older  prophecy  foretold  that  when  huge  deer 
(cattle  ?)  entered  the  country,  the  Maya  religion  would 
cease. 


22  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

The  first  Spaniards  to  land  on  Maya  soil  were  a 
certain  Geronimo  de  Aguilar  and  some  twenty  others, 
who  in  the  year  1511  were  wrecked,  but  managed  to 
reach  the  coast  of  Yucatan,  where  a  number  were 
promptly  sacrificed  and  their  bodies  eaten  at  a  ceremo- 
nial feast.  Aguilar  and  another  Spaniard,  Guerrero, 
escaped,  while  being  fattened  up,  and  falling  into  the 
hands  of  a  friendly  chief  were  saved. 

It  must  have  been  a  great  source  of  satisfaction 
to  the  Mayas  in  after  years  in  the  midst  of  their  tribu- 
lations to  think  that  at  any  rate  the  first  invaders  had 
added  glory  to  their  gods. 

The  two  survivors,  Aguilar  and  Guerrero,  were 
well  treated.  Aguilar,  it  appears,  was  a  friar,  and,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  account,  lived  a  spotless  and  holy 
life,  till  he  was  rescued  by  Cortez  some  eight  years 
later  and  proved  of  invaluable  aid  to  the  Conquistador 
as  an  interpreter.  Guerrero  rose  to  be  military  ad- 
viser to  a  chief  living  near  Bakhalal,  where  he  met 
with  considerable  success.  He  married  a  lady  of  rank, 
adopted  Maya  customs  and  dress,  and  apparently  was 
so  contented  that  he  took  no  steps  to  rejoin  his  fellow 
countrymen  when  Cortez  first  arrived  at  Yucatan,  and 
in  fact  he  is  believed  to  have  led  one  of  the  Maya 
armies  against  the  invaders. 

The  story  of  the  conquest  of  Yucatan  is  outside 
the  scope  of  this  book.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Mayas 
put  up  a  stout,  though  ineffectual  resistance.  The 
country  was  eventually  subdued,  and  the  land  and 
people  were  parcelled  out  among  the  conquerors. 
Bishop  Landa  tells  us  that  each  Spaniard  was  granted 
two  thousand  Indian  vassals,  and  the  inquisition  was 
introduced  to  prevent  any  relapses  to  the  old  religion. 
The  natives  driven  desperate  by  their  miseries  com- 
mitted suicide  in  droves,  and  thus  were  the  benefits  of 
European  civilization  bestowed  upon  the  Mayas. 


RELIGION 

The  religious  beliefs  of  the  Mayas  have  reached 
us  in  a  state  of  inextricable  confusion,  and  the  task  of 
disentangling  the  threads  is  a  matter  of  great  diffi- 
culty. In  every  community,  whether  it  be  civilized  or 
primitive,  there  always  exist  at  least  two  different 
schools  of  religious  thought  which  may  be  classified  as 
being  the  view-points  of  the  priest  and  of  the  layman. 
For  the  sacerdotal  class  religion  is  the  vital  purpose 
around  which  its  life  centres,  whereas  for  the  layman 
religion  is  a  matter  outside  his  every-day  life.  Not 
every  priest  is  included  in  the  sacerdotal  class,  and 
many  laymen  who  possess  the  true  religious  complex 
should  undoubtedly  be  placed  in  the  first  category. 
Although  the  two  classes  do  tend  to  merge  into  each 
other  to  a  certain  extent,  the  extremes  show  a  surpris- 
ing difference,  even  in  a  community  such  as  ours, 
where  some  fifteen  centuries  of  stability  and  civiliza- 
tion have  had  an  enormous  influence  in  causing  a 
tendency  toward  uniformity. 

Among  the  Mayas  this  movement  of  convergence 
can  never  have  existed.  On  the  one  side  stood  the 
priests  who  formed  the  educated  class,  on  the  other 
the  uneducated  masses.  The  difference  between  the 
speculative  and  esoteric  doctrines  of  the  former  and 
the  crude  beliefs  of  the  latter  must  have  been  very 
great.  Unfortunately  we  have  no  means  of  ascertain- 
ing to  which  group  such  relics  of  the  Maya  religion  as 
have  reached  us  should  be  assigned.  Our  sources  of 
information  are  various.  Bishop  Landa,  to  whom  ref- 
erence has  already  been  made,  is  the  only  writer  of 
conquest  times  who  has  given  us  any  detailed  account 
of  the  Mayas  living  in  Yucatan  at  the  time  of  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Spaniards. 

23 


24  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

Diego  Landa  was  born  in  Spain  of  good  family  in 
the  year  1524.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  the 
famous  monastery  of  San  Juan  de  los  Reyes  in  To- 
ledo, joining  the  Franciscan  order.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  Franciscans  to  go  to  Yucatan,  where  his  zeal  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Mayas  was  so  great  that  he  was 
mixed  up  in  an  illegal  auto  de  fe  and  consequently  re- 
called to  Spain  for  trial.  He  was  acquitted  and  re- 
turned to  Yucatan  in  1573  as  second  bishop  of  Merida. 
He  has  been  described  as  a  fanatic,  but  doubtless  was 
no  narrower  than  most  of  his  contemporaries.  Un- 
fortunately his  whole  efforts  were  dedicated  to  the 
overthrow  of  the  old  religion,  and  he  was  responsible 
for  the  burning  of  great  masses  of  Maya  codices  which 
were  in  his  eyes  works  of  the  devil.  Despite  this  ter- 
rible destruction,  we  owe  him  gratitude  for  his  great 
book  "Las  Cosas  de  Yucatan"  in  which  he  describes  at 
some  length  the  customs  and  festivals  of  the  Mayas. 

Only  three  codices  have  survived  the  holocaust 
carried  out  by  the  Spaniards,  and  although  still  im- 
perfectly understood,  have  added  considerably  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  Maya  deities. 

A  few  references  by  other  Spanish  historians, 
notably  Cogolludo,  details  gleaned  from  monuments, 
frescoes,  and  pottery  complete  our  sources  of  infor- 
mation. 

The  great  German  Maya  authority,  Schellhas,  has 
identified  a  number  of  gods  in  the  three  codices  re- 
ferred to  above,  to  which  he  gives  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet. A  comparison  of  these  gods  with  those  found  on 
the  monuments  and  referred  to  by  Landa  and  others 
enables  us  to  add  considerably  to  the  information  sup- 
plied by  Schellhas.  The  letters  given  are  those  used 
by  Schellhas  for  identification  purposes.  It  must  be 
understood,  however,  that  there  are  still  considerable 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  functions  and  attributes 
of  the  various  deities. 


Maya  Religion  25 

Far  and  away  the  most  important  gods  were 
those  intimately  connected  with  agriculture  and  fer- 
tility, as  is  to  be  expected  among  a  people  such  as  the 
Mayas,  whose  whole  existence  depended  on  the  size  of 
the  harvest.  On  the  lowlands  of  Central  America  and 
the  limestone  areas  of  Yucatan,  rainfall  in  abundance 
and  at  the  opportune  moment  was  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance, and  so  not  unnaturally  the  fertility  of  the 
gods  is  associated  with  thunder,  lightning,  and  rain. 
Joyce  has  called  attention  to  the  very  wide  distribu- 
tion in  pre-Columbian  times  from  Argentina  to  the 
United  States  of  thunder  and  lightning  gods  repre- 
sented with  tears  falling  from  their  eyes,  a  good  ex- 
ample of  imitative  magic.  On  the  primitive  principle 
that  like  produces  like,  the  tears  of  the  god  will  pro- 
duce rain.  The  Mayas  were  no  exception,  and  their 
god  of  rain  (god  B)  was  represented  with  streaming 
eyes,  and  his  hieroglyph  is  a  T-shaped  figure  which, 
as  Joyce  points  out,  undoubtedly  represents  an  eye 
with  tears  falling  from  it. 

God  B  (Fig.  2,  Nos.  1-2  and  Fig.  3,  Nos.  1-2),  the 
rain  god,  is  invariably  shown  with  a  long  pendulous 
nose  with  a  curled  object  attached  to  the  upper  sur- 
face, which  probably  represents  a  rather  conventional- 
ized serpent's  upper  jaw.  The  snake  is  throughout  the 
New  World  closely  connected  with  rain.  Possibly  its 
sinuosity  recalled  the  lightning  which  so  often  pre- 
cedes rain  in  these  latitudes,  or  the  fact  that  snakes 
show  themselves  in  large  numbers  immediately  before 
and  after  a  storm  may  have  given  rise  to  the  connec- 
tion. God  B  is  sometimes  shown  with  the  body  of  a 
serpent,  and  more  often  sitting  in  or  issuing  from  the 
jaws  of  a  snake,  and  on  two  occasions  with  a  snake  in 
his  hand.  Although  he  has  been  identified  as  Kuculcan, 
the  feathered  serpent  god,  it  seems  more  probable  that 
he  is  Chac  and  that  he  is  almost  equivalent  to  Tlaloc, 
the  rain  god  of  Mexico.    He  is  also  found  associated 


26 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


Fig.  2. 

Maya  Gods  from  the  Dresden  Codex. 

1-2,  god  B;  3.  god  K;  4,  god  D;  5,  god  G;  6,  god  C; 

7,  god  E;  8,  god  A;  9,  goddess  of  stiicides;  10,  god  F. 


Maya  Religion  27 

with  the  symbols  of  the  four  directions  which  we  are 
informed  were  represented  by  four  subsidiary  Chacs, 
as  they  were  among  the  Nahua  by  four  Tlalocs.  The 
fact  that  god  B  is  never  shown  with  feathers  on  his 
body  rules  out  any  possibility  that  he  is  the  feathered 
serpent.  At  all  events,  he  was  a  god  of  primary  im- 
portance, and  is  represented  on  the  monuments  of  the 
Old  and  New  Empires  and  in  the  manuscripts  with 
more  frequency  than  any  other  deity.  He  is  essentially 
a  benevolent  deity  in  the  codices,  but  on  the  monu- 
ments of  the  Old  Empire  he  is  sometimes  depicted  with 
a  fleshless  face  and  other  symbols  of  death.  Perhaps 
this  is  to  express  that  rain  is  not  always  beneficial: 
sometimes  too  much  rain  falls  and  floods  ensue,  or  the 
rain-soaked  harvest  rots. 

Closely  associated  with  god  B  is  another  god  con- 
nected with  fertility,  god  K  (Fig.  2,  No.  3),  "the  god 
with  the  foliated  nose."  On  several  occasions  in  the 
codices  god  B  is  shown  carrying  the  head  of  god  K 
either  in  his  hand  or  on  top  of  his  own  in  the  form  of 
a  mask.  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  god  K  is 
the  wind  god.  Forstemann  suggests  that  the  foliated 
nose  represents  the  blast  of  the  storm.  Probably  gods 
B  and  K  are  two  manifestations  of  the  original  thunder 
god.  God  B,  as  we  have  seen,  represents  the  rain  and 
god  K  the  wind  that  so  frequently  sweeps  across  the 
land  before  the  downpour  in  the  tropics. 

The  features  of  god  K  are  slightly  less  anthropo- 
morphic and  resemble  to  a  larger  degree  the  conven- 
tionalized upper  jaw  of  a  serpent  than  in  the  case  of 
god  B.  The  connection  with  thunder  and  lightning  is 
even  stronger. 

The  Maya  and  Nahua  gods  are  closely  related 
and  a  passing  reference  to  the  equivalent  gods  of 
Mexico  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

Quetzalcoatl  (which  means  "feathered  serpent") 
as  Eecatl,  the  wind  god,  who  is  said  to  sweep  the  path 


28  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


Fig.  3. 

Maya  Gods  from  the  Monuments. 

1-2,  god  B;  3.  god  D;  4,  god  G;  5,  god  C;  6,  god  E;  7,  god  A. 


Maya  Religion  29 

for  the  rain  god,  bears  a  resemblance  to  god  K.  The 
same  huge  proboscis  is  his  distinguishing  mark.  On 
his  forehead  he  wears  a  small  serpent,  and  in  addition 
he  carries  a  peculiar  eye-mark  which  may  be  the  tear 
referred  to  above. 

Tlaloc,  the  rain  god,  is  shown  with  a  prominent 
conventionalized  snake's  jaw.  On  his  forehead  like 
Eecatl  he  wears  a  small  serpent;  and  he,  too,  has  a 
peculiar  circle  round  his  eye. 

In  all  probability  both  these  gods  were  borrowed 
by  the  peoples  of  the  Mexican  highlands  from  the 
Mayas,  together  with  the  feathered  serpent,  Kuculcan 
(Fig.  4) .  This  deity  had  been  of  so  holy  a  nature  that 
he  became  the  great  mystery  around  which  Maya  life 
centred,  and  was  thoroughly  misunderstood  by  his 
Mexican  borrowers.  Unable  to  get  to  the  root  of  the 
esoteric  doctrines  held  by  the  priests  concerning  Ku- 
culcan, they  adopted  him  as  a  god  symbolic  of  the  cul- 
ture they  had  received  from  the  Mayas,  at  the  same 
time  realizing  that  he  was  in  some  way  connected  with 
fertility.  When  Nahua  immigrants  settled  in  Yuca- 
tan in  the  thirteenth  century,  as  described  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  they  introduced  with  them  this  con- 
ception of  the  feathered  serpent  as  a  culture-hero  god, 
which  was  incorporated  into  the  Maya  legends.  Pos- 
sibly Kuculcan  was  originally  looked  upon  as  the  su- 
preme god  of  the  thunder  and  lightning,  and  gods  B 
and  K  were  manifestations  of  the  two  sides  of  his 
nature. 

God  D  (Fig.  2,  No.  4,  and  Fig.  3,  No.  3),  "the 
god  with  the  Roman  nose,"  is  undoubtedly  a  sky  god. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  Hunabku,  the  cre- 
ator, who  like  the  creation  gods  of  many  primitive 
peoples  was  so  far  removed  from  man,  and  interfered 
so  little  in  his  affairs,  that  he  could  be,  and  was,  safely 
ignored.  Besides  the  prominent  Roman  nose,  he  is 
characterized  by  the  features  of  an  old  man,  a  wrinkled 


30  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

face  and  a  mouth  that  boasts  but  one  tooth,  and  some- 
times a  beard.  His  head  is  also  used  as  the  glyph 
for  the  number  4,  which  suggests  that  as  god  of  the 
sky  his  dominion  extended  over  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe. 

Naturally  as  sky  god,  he  ruled  over  night  and 
day,  and  so  we  find  him  closely  connected  with  both 
the  moon  and  the  sun.  At  other  times  he  is  depicted 
carrying  the  emblem  of  the  moon. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  he  is  Itzamna,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  been  the  introducer  of  writing  and  to 
have  come  from  the  East,  but  here  again  we  may  be 
dealing  with  a  Mexican  culture  myth  grafted  on  to 
Maya  history. 

The  sun  god  so  closely  associated  with  Itzamna  is 
god  G,  Kinich  Ahau  (Fig.  2,  No.  3,  and  Fig.  3,  No.  4). 
As  far  as  we  can  gather,  he  did  not  take  an  excessively 
important  place  in  the  Maya  pantheon.  He  was,  how- 
ever, the  patron  of  the  city  of  Itzamal  which  he  was 
supposed  to  have  visited  daily  at  noon,  descending  as 
a  macaw  to  consume  the  offerings  made  to  him.  He 
is  usually  represented  with  a  peculiar  scroll  issuing 
from  the  end  of  his  nose,  and  is  as  a  rule  shown  with  a 
beard  which  according  to  some  authorities  represents 
the  rays  of  the  sun.  His  lack  of  importance  is  prob- 
ably due  to  the  fact  that  his  functions  as  a  god  of  light 
are  largely  usurped  by  god  D,  Itzamna.  As  a  fertility 
god  he  is  overshadowed  by  the  all-important  trinity 
of  snake  gods. 

One  other  god  is  associated  with  the  heavens, 
god  C  (Fig.  2,  No.  6,  and  Fig.  3,  No.  5).  Although  he 
is  depicted  with  great  frequency  in  the  manuscripts, 
and  on  the  sculptures  of  the  Old  Empire,  no  reference 
has  been  made  by  Landa  or  other  Spanish  writers  to 
a  god  that  might  conceivably  be  identified  with  him. 
Schellhas  thinks  that  he  is  the  deity  of  the  polar  star, 
and  it  is  significant  that  his  hieroglyph  is  also  the  sign 


Maya  Religion 


81 


32  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

for  the  north.  He  is  represented  with  the  features  of 
a  monkey. 

Maize,  the  staple  product  of  the  Mayas,  was  in 
the  special  keeping  of  a  maize  god,  god  E  (Fig.  2, 
No.  7,  and  Fig.  3,  No.  6),  who  is  depicted  with  great 
frequency  on  the  monuments  of  the  Old  Empire,  as 
well  as  in  the  codices,  though  in  the  later  stages  of 
Maya  history,  his  functions  seem  to  have  been  taken 
over  by  the  subsidiary  Chacs.  At  the  best  he  prob- 
ably represented  merely  the  spirit  of  the  young  maize 
and  possibly,  too,  the  ripe  grain,  as  he  is  often  shown 
in  conjunction  with  the  sign  Kan,  the  symbol  of  the 
harvest  and  maize  food.  Schellhas  assigns  him  the  let- 
ter E  and  suggests  that  he  may  be  Yum  Kaax,  the  lord 
of  the  harvest  fields  and  patron  of  husbandry.  He  is 
invariably  shown  with  a  young  maize  plant  as  his 
head-dress  and  usually  with  a  curved  streak  on  his 
cheek.  His  features  are  well  drawn,  and  he  always  has 
a  youthful  appearance,  a  welcome  contrast  to  his  fel- 
low gods  with  their  fantastic  features. 

There  can  be  few  more  beautiful  sculptures  than 
that  on  the  back  of  one  of  the  stelae  at  Copan  which 
depicts  the  youthful  handsome  god  peeping  forth  as 
he  climbs  the  stalks  of  maize.  The  group  gives  one  the 
impression  that  spring  is  in  the  air,  and  the  whole 
spirit  of  joyfulness  permeates  the  land — youth  is  in 
control. 

By  himself  the  young  god  was  helpless ;  he  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  destinies  who  controlled  the  rain  and 
drought.  Sometimes  we  find  him  under  the  protection 
of  the  rain  god,  and  sometimes  he  suffers  persecution 
at  the  hands  of  the  god  of  death  in  whose  special  keep- 
ing were  drought  and  famine. 

The  god  above  all  associated  with  death  was  god 
A  (Fig.  2,  No.  8,  and  Fig.  3,  No.  7),  Ah  Puch.  He  is 
a  god  of  the  utmost  importance,  especially  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  Bishop  Landa  informs  us  the  Mayas  had 


Maya  Religion  33 

an  immoderate  fear  of  death.  He  is  represented  as  a 
skeleton  with  a  very  prominent  spinal  cord,  and  his 
head  is  replaced  by  a  skull.  Bones  form  his  chief 
adornment,  and  he  is  frequently  depicted  with  a  sign 
that  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  an  ordinary  per- 
centage sign.  He  is  found  in  other  situations  associ- 
ated with  death,  and  sometimes  he  is  shown  with  a 
body  covered  with  black  spots,  which  undoubtedly  rep- 
resents decomposing  flesh.  He  usually  wears  a  feather 
collar  with  bells  attached ;  the  connection,  however,  be- 
tween this  ornament  and  death  is  not  known. 

Maya  religion  partook  somewhat  of  the  nature  of 
dualism.  We  are  constantly  reminded  of  the  unending 
struggle  between  the  benevolent  gods  of  life  under  the 
leadership  of  god  B  and  the  malevolent  powers  of 
darkness  under  that  of  god  A.  God  B  is  seen  tending 
the  young  tree,  god  A  comes  behind  and  destroys  it, 
typifying  the  eternal  fight  between  the  good  and  the 
evil;  what  the  former  achieves,  the  latter  attempts  to 
undo.  As  stated  above,  droughts  were  connected  with 
god  A.  He  was  closely  connected  with  a  number  of 
other  deities,  the  gods  of  war  and  sacrifice,  the  ruler 
of  the  abode  of  the  dead,  and  owls,  which  were  the 
harbingers  of  death  and  the  messengers  of  the  ruler 
of  the  next  world. 

The  Mayas  believed  very  firmly  in  the  existence 
of  a  future  life  beyond  the  grave,  where  each  man  got 
his  deserts.  Those  who  had  lived  good  lives  in  this 
world,  in  the  next  found  themselves  in  a  heaven.  They 
did  not,  however,  believe  in  a  resurrection  of  the  body. 
This  heaven  was  a  delectable  abode  free  from  all  sor- 
row and  pain,  where  those  who  had  been  sufficiently 
lucky  to  arrive  there  were  free  to  rest  and  enjoy  them- 
selves. There  was  feasting  and  dancing.  In  the  centre 
grew  a  huge  tree,  in  the  shade  of  the  enormous  boughs 
of  which  the  souls  rested. 


34  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

Those  who  had  lived  evil  lives  were  condemned 
to  Mitnal  which  was  situated  below  the  abode  of  the 
good  souls,  Hunahau  prince  of  the  demons,  ruled  over 
this  land.  Existence  there  was  endless,  and  we  are 
informed  that  the  inhabitants  even  lacked  souls.  They 
were  condemned  to  undergo  tortures  which  took  the 
shape  of  hunger,  exhaustion,  cold,  and  sadness. 

Suicides  went  to  heaven,  and  were  much  respected. 
They  were  under  the  special  patronage  of  the  goddess 
Ixtab  (Fig.  2,  No.  9) ,  who  is  represented  in  the  codices 
with  a  rope  around  her  neck.  As  a  result  of  this  belief, 
suicides  were  very  frequent.  It  was  a  common  practice 
for  Mayas  to  commit  suicide  for  some  trivial  matter, 
or  as  the  result  of  slight  depression,  believing,  as  they 
did,  that  thereby  a  place  in  heaven  was  assured  them. 

These  beliefs  in  a  heaven  and  hell  for  the  righteous 
and  unrighteous  may  be  due  in  part  to  the  teachings 
of  the  friars ;  they  are  not  typical  of  aboriginal  Ameri- 
can beliefs.  Primitive  peoples  usually  believe  in  only 
one  abode  of  the  dead.  Where  there  is  a  belief  in  two 
or  more,  the  better  is  usually  reserved  for  the  aristoc- 
racy or  warriors. 

A  god  closely  connected  with  death  is  god  F  ( Fig.  2, 
No.  10),  who  presided  over  war,  human  sacrifice, 
and  death  by  violence.  His  characteristic  emblem  is  a 
streak  of  black  paint  running  in  a  vertical  curve  the 
length  of  his  face  on  each  side.  This  may  possibly 
represent  war  paint  or  gaping  wounds.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  the  Mexican  god  of  human  sacrifice, 
Xipe,  also  bears  a  similar  black  stripe.  In  the  codices 
god  F  appears  as  a  companion  of  god  A.  On  one  oc- 
casion the  two  are  presiding  over  a  sacrificial  victim; 
on  another  god  F  is  shown  striding  through  the  coun- 
try with  flaming  torch  in  one  hand,  in  the  other  a 
knife,  as  he  follows  god  A  on  their  destructive  missions. 

Goddesses  are  of  minor  importance.  The  goddess 
of  suicides  has  been  mentioned  above,  the  only  other 


Maya  Religion  86 

goddess  to  whom  much  attention  seems  to  have  been 
paid  is  the  goddess  I.  Her  features  are  those  of  an 
old  woman,  her  body  is  brown  in  color,  and  she  has 
claws  instead  of  feet.  For  a  head-dress  she  wears  a 
knotted  snake,  and  frequently  she  is  represented  pour- 
ing water  from  a  bucket.  She  may  be  merely  a  femi- 
nine counterpart  of  god  B,  or  possibly  she  represents 
the  water  spirit.  However,  the  fact  that  she  is  on  one 
or  two  occasions  associated  with  the  sky  god  D  seems 
to  point  rather  to  a  connection  with  rain. 

Lastly  a  number  of  mythological  animals  occur. 
On  the  monuments  of  the  Old  Empire  is  depicted  every- 
where a  two-headed  monster.  But  no  trace  of  the 
creature  occurs  in  the  codices.  The  body  rather  re- 
sembles that  of  a  crocodile.  At  each  end  is  added  a 
head.  In  front  the  head  bears  a  superficial  resemblance 
to  a  crocodile's,  but  the  jaws  are  very  similar  to  those 
of  a  conventionalized  snake.  In  the  open  mouth  ap- 
pears the  head  of  the  sun  god,  though  occasionally 
god  B  takes  his  place.  The  rear  head  is  very  definitely 
characterized  by  the  symbols  of  death  and  the  Saint 
Andrew's  cross,  the  emblem  of  the  sun.  The  front  head 
represents  the  sun  rising  from  the  earth ;  the  tail  head 
symbolizes  the  sun  in  the  underworld,  that  is,  its  set- 
ting. During  the  night  the  sun  travels  through  the 
body  of  the  earth  monster  and  emerges  at  sunrise  from 
the  front  head. 

Joyce  produces  good  evidence  to  show  that  this 
animal  is  the  earth  monster  similar  to  the  Mexican 
symbolic  earth  monster  which  is  often  depicted  as 
swallowing  either  Tonatiuh,  the  sun  god,  or  Tlaloc. 

Two-headed  snakes  are  often  shown  on  the  monu- 
ments. Very  often  figures  are  shown  bearing  in  their 
arms  staves  which  in  many  cases  are  replaced  by  two- 
headed  snakes,  probably  a  badge  of  high  priestly  or 
secular  office. 


36  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

A  few  other  animal  and  bird  gods  exist  of  rela- 
tively little  importance,  as  far  as  we  know  at  present. 
In  most  cases  little  is  known  beyond  their  appearance. 

We  have  very  briefly  touched  on  a  dozen  of  the 
most  important  members  of  the  Maya  pantheon.  It 
remains  to  assign  these  gods  to  the  two  distinct  catego- 
ries of  worshippers — priest  and  layman. 

The  Maya  layman  was  polytheistic,  but  that  does 
not  necessarily  imply  that  the  priest  also  believed  in 
a  multitude  of  deities. 

Polytheistic  religions  have  a  tendency  to  absorb 
more  and  more  gods  into  the  national  pantheon.  One 
has  only  to  cite  Rome  to  show  how  true  this  is.  The 
Roman  soldier  returning  from  garrison  duty  in  Asia 
or  Africa  introduced  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  the 
land  he  had  subdued  and  occupied.  The  merchant  of 
a  nation  subject  to  Rome  visited  the  capital  in  con- 
nection with  his  business,  and  further  helped  to  estab- 
lish new  deities.  The  only  serious  rival  of  Christianity 
was  the  religion  of  Mithra,  an  Asiatic  god  introduced 
into  the  empire  and  spread  everywhere  by  Roman 
soldiers.  The  same  is  true  of  Mexico.  The  Aztecs 
foisted  their  tribal  god,  Huitzilopochtli,  on  the  neigh- 
boring Mexican  peoples,  and  transferred  many  of  the 
attributes  of  the  gods  of  the  conquered  peoples  to 
their  own  special  tribal  deities,  with  the  resulting 
confusion. 

How  true  this  may  be  of  the  Mayas  it  is  hard  to 
say.  I  have  already  suggested  that  the  Mexican  mer- 
cenaries may  have  been  responsible  for  the  re-intro- 
duction of  Kuculcan  in  a  modified  form,  and  they  were 
undoubtedly  the  introducers  of  many  religious  ceremo- 
nies, especially  those  connected  with  human  sacrifice. 
I  have  also  suggested  that  the  number  of  gods  may 
have  been  increased  by  a  system  of  splitting.  Under 
this  hypothesis  Kuculcan  as  god  of  rain  becomes  god 
B,  and  as  god  of  the  wind,  god  K.   The  same  process 


Maya  Religion  87 

was  in  operation  in  New  Zealand  among  the  Maoris 
before  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  The  creator 
god  was  assigned  so  many  names  and  attributes  that 
definite  confusion  ensued,  and  there  seems  little  doubt 
that  the  layman  who  worshipped  him  as  the  god  of 
one  element  under  one  name,  quite  failed  to  realize 
that  he  was  exactly  the  same  god  as  the  one  he  wor- 
shipped under  a  different  name  as  the  controller  of 
some  other  element.  Kuculcan  would  recede  more  and 
more  into  the  background  as  a  fertility  god,  as  his  con- 
nection with  gods  B  and  K  became  less  realized.  The 
man  with  the  priest  complex,  of  course,  would  never 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  gods  B  and  K  were  but  mani- 
festations of  Kuculcan ;  the  layman  would. 

The  priest  would  be  working  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection toward  unification,  and  probably  arrived  at 
monotheism.  One  can  imagine  his  line  of  thought.  All 
the  fertility  gods  are  but  manifestations  of  Kuculcan. 
The  sun,  the  moon  and  the  north  star  are  just  different 
sides  of  Itzamna,  the  sky  god.  The  group  of  death  gods 
are  in  the  same  way  merely  representations  of  the  dif- 
ferent forms  of  death.  In  this  way  he  would  reduce 
his  gods  to  a  trio.  Realizing,  as  we  know  he  did,  the 
close  connection  between  Kuculcan  and  Itzamna,  it 
would  be  but  a  short  step  to  arrive  at  the  belief  that 
they  were  but  two  manifestations  of  the  heavens,  the 
face  turned  earthward,  and  the  part  that  can  only 
come  indirectly  in  touch  with  earth. 

We  know  the  Maya  realized  the  dualism  of  his 
beliefs,  and  so  we  have  grounds  for  thinking  that  the 
very  close  association  between  the  beneficial  gods  and 
those  connected  with  death,  destruction,  and  famine 
was  not  merely  fortuitous.  God  was  two-faced,  with 
one  face  smiling  on  his  people,  with  the  other  frown- 
ing ;  with  one  hand  dealing  out  the  bountiful  fruits  of 
the  earth,  with  the  other  hurling  down  evil  and  misery. 
This  belief  is  met  with  in  many  parts  of  the  American 


38  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

continent.  Therefore,  whereas  the  rank  and  file  had 
still  a  firm  belief  in  a  large  and  possibly  an  increasing 
number  of  deities,  the  religious  thinker  had  progressed 
far,  and  had  probably  reached  the  goal  of  monotheism. 


QUICHE  LEGENDS 

At  the  time  of  the  conquest,  there  were  a  large 
number  of  tribes  besides  the  inhabitants  of  Yucatan 
speaking  Maya  dialects.  The  most  important  of  these 
are  the  Quiche  and  Kakchiquel,  who  lived  around  the 
northern,  western,  and  southern  shores  of  Lake  Atit- 
lan. 

What  influence  the  inhabitants  of  the  Old  Empire 
may  have  had  on  the  Quiche  and  Kakchiquel  is  not 
properly  known,  owing  to  the  almost  entire  absence 
of  sculptural  monuments  from  the  Lake  Atitlan  area. 
But  the  close  resemblance  of  the  two  calendars,  and, 
to  a  lesser  extent,  of  the  religions  of  the  two  areas 
shows  that  a  great  deal  of  the  Lake  Atitlan  culture 
must  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Old  Empire,  pos- 
sibly through  the  inhabitants  of  Quen  Santo.  A  sig- 
nificant passage  in  the  Quiche  legends,  however,  states 
that  they  went  to  visit  their  kindred  peoples  who  lived 
to  the  east  in  order  to  obtain  the  insignia  of  rank ;  and 
this  seems  to  point  to  earlier  intercourse  with  the  Old 
Empire. 

Luckily  a  history  of  the  Quiche  has  been  preserved 
which  in  addition  to  the  historical  portions  contains  a 
great  deal  of  legend  and  mythology  of  enormous  in- 
terest to  us,  as  undoubtedly  they  comprise  a  great  deal 
of  traditions,  belief  in  which  was  shared  with  the 
Mayas  of  the  Old  Empire  and  other  kindred  peoples. 

These  traditions  are  known  as  the  Popol  Vuh, 
which  means  "collection  of  written  pages,"  and  were 
first  committed  to  writing  by  a  Christianized  native. 
Afterwards  they  were  copied  and  translated  into  Span- 
ish by  a  monk,  Jimenez.  They  were  lost  for  a  couple 
of  centuries,  like  Landa's  "Relaciones  de  las  cosas  de 
Yucatan,"  re-appearing  after  a  long  search  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  they  were  dis- 

39 


40  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

covered  in  a  library  in  Guatemala.  The  Popol  Vuh  is 
divided  into  four  volumes,  of  which  the  first  two  and 
most  of  the  third  are  entirely  mythical.  The  latter 
part  of  the  third  and  the  last  volume  give  a  highly 
colored  historical  account  of  the  rise  and  prowess  of 
the  Quiche  nation.  The  first  book  narrates  how  the 
world  was  created  and  the  exploits  of  the  divine  twins. 

Hunahpu,  Gukumatz,  and  Hurakan  were  the  cre- 
ators. The  first  undoubtedly  corresponds  to  the  Yuca- 
tan Hunabku,  the  creator  and  father  of  Itzamna. 
Gukumatz  is  merely  Kuculcan,  the  feathered  serpent 
in  the  Quiche  dialect.  Hurakan  was  the  wind  god,  and 
possibly  was  the  same  as  god  K. 

These  three  took  counsel,  and  decided  to  create 
the  world.  "Earth,"  they  cried,  and  the  earth  ap- 
peared. Next  animals  were  created,  but  the  gods  were 
not  satisfied,  as  the  animals  were  dumb  and  could  not 
thank  their  creators.  Accordingly,  the  gods  fashioned 
men  out  of  clay,  but  they  had  no  intelligence,  and  dis- 
pleased their  creators,  who  destroyed  them.  Xpiyakok 
and  Xmukane,  the  father  and  mother  gods,  were  then 
called  in  to  the  deliberations.  They  decided  to  make 
small  men  of  wood.  This  was  done,  but  the  wooden 
men  were  irreverent  and  mischievous,  and  the  gods 
decided  to  destroy  them.  A  flood  was  caused,  the 
waters  rose,  and  the  rain  poured  down  on  the  wretched 
little  men  of  wood.  Birds  too  attacked  them,  eating 
their  bodies  and  tearing  out  their  eyes.  Every  animal 
turned  against  them,  even  their  domestic  utensils 
joined  in  the  persecution.  The  race  was  practically  an- 
nihilated; only  a  few  escaped,  and  became  small 
monkeys,  the  ancestors  of  those  that  play  to-day  in 
the  forests  of  Guatemala. 

Here  the  story  of  the  creation  breaks  off  to  relate 
the  adventures  of  the  divine  twins. 

After  the  flood  there  lived  a  terrible  being,  known 
as  Vukub-Cakix,  whose  body  seems  to  have  consisted 


Quiche  Legends  41 

for  the  most  part  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones. 
He  too  was  boastful  and  irreverent  and  angered  the 
gods,  who  sent  Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque  to  earth  to 
deal  with  the  nuisance.  This  Hunahpu  is  not  the  same 
as  the  creator  mentioned  above.  Vukub  Cakix  was  the 
possessor  of  a  very  fine  fruit-tree,  on  which  he  de- 
pended to  a  large  extent  for  his  food.  One  day  the 
heroes  came  on  him  as  he  climbed  up  to  gather  the 
fruit.  Hunahpu  promptly  raised  his  blow-gun  to  his 
mouth  and  shot  a  dart  at  him.  Vukub  Cakix  hit  in 
the  mouth  fell  out  of  the  tree,  and  Hunahpu  closed 
with  him.  In  the  struggle  that  ensued  Vukub  Cakix 
tore  off  his  opponent's  arm,  and,  breaking  off  the 
fight,  strode  home  with  it  to  his  wife,  who  proceeded 
to  wither  it  over  a  fire,  chanting  spells  against 
Hunahpu  the  while. 

In  order  to  recover  the  arm,  the  two  heroes  join 
two  sorcerers,  and  in  disguise  offer  to  cure  Vukub- 
Cakix  of  his  damaged  mouth.  The  injured  giant  is 
delighted,  and  willingly  submits  to  their  operations. 
They  inform  him  that  the  only  way  to  cure  him  is  to 
remove  all  his  teeth.  He  consents  to  having  his  teeth 
removed,  but  when  he  is  tied  down  for  the  operation, 
they  not  only  remove  his  teeth,  but  also  his  eyes,  and 
as  a  result  Vukub-Cakix  dies.  Hunahpu  fixes  on  his 
arm  again,  and  turns  his  attention  to  the  two  sons  of 
his  victim,  Zipacna  and  Cabrakan,  who  are  earthquake 
gods. 

The  divine  heroes  start  to  build  a  house  with  the 
aid  of  four  hundred  young  men.  Four  hundred  in  ab- 
original America  signified  "innumerable."  They  are 
engaged  in  dragging  along  a  tree-trunk  for  one  of  the 
corner  posts,  when  Zipacna  comes  along  and  offers  to 
carry  it  for  them.  They  persuade  him  to  get  down  into 
the  post-hole  with  the  trunk,  and  then  try  to  kill  him 
by  hurling  posts  on  top  of  him.  Zipacna  escapes,  how- 
ever, and  causes  an  earthquake  which  hurls  the  four 


42  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

hundred  youths  skyward,  where  they  become  the 
Pleiades. 

Foiled  in  their  attempt,  the  heroes  next  persuade 
Zipacna  to  visit  a  certain  spot,  and  then  throw  a  moun- 
tain on  top  of  him.  To  make  doubly  certain  they  turn 
him  into  stone. 

With  one  brother  out  of  the  way,  the  heroes  next 
tackle  Cabrakan,  the  surviving  son  of  Vukub-Cakix. 
They  invite  him  to  a  meal  which  consists  of  a  bird 
baked  in  poisoned  mud.  Cabrakan  eats  the  meal  and 
subsequently  dies.  This  concludes  the  first  book. 

The  opening  of  the  second  book  harks  back  to  the 
adventures  of  two  other  divine  heroes,  Hunhunapu  and 
Vukub  Hunapu,  father  and  uncle  respectively  of  the 
twin  conquerors  of  the  giants.  They  were  sons  of  the 
father  and  mother  gods  referred  to  above. 

The  brothers  were  very  fond  of  the  Mexican  ball 
game,  and  in  the  course  of  play  arrived  near  Xibalba 
which  was  the  abode  of  the  dead.  The  rulers  of  that 
land  challenged  them  to  a  game.  They  accepted,  but 
before  play  was  possible,  they  were  subjected  to  a  se- 
ries of  pranks  and  ordeals.  Crossing  a  river  of  blood, 
they  entered  the  palace  of  the  rulers  of  Xibalba,  and 
catching  sight  of  two  seated  figures,  went  up  to  greet 
them,  in  the  belief  that  they  were  addressing  images 
of  wood.  Invited  to  sit  down,  they  sat  on  a  red-hot 
stone.  They  then  passed  into  the  "House  of  Gloom," 
and  were  killed  and  buried.  Hunhunahpu's  head  was 
hung  up  on  a  tree,  from  which  were  suspended  a  num- 
ber of  human  face-like  gourds.  One  day  a  princess  of 
the  realm  of  the  dead  approached  the  tree  out  of  curi- 
osity. Hunhunahpu's  head  promptly  spat  into  her 
hand,  and  she  became  pregnant.  Escaping  to  the  land 
of  the  living,  she  gave  birth  to  the  heroes  whose  early 
deeds  are  related  in  book  I. 

Hunahpu  and  Xbalanque  were  in  their  youth 
great  hunters,  and  incurred  the  jealousy  of  their  half- 


Quiche  Legends  43 

brothers,  Hun  Batz  and  Hun  Chuen.  The  twins,  piqued 
by  their  enmity,  turned  them  into  monkeys.  During 
their  youth  they  performed  a  number  of  hazardous 
deeds  and  magical  acts,  and  then  they  heard  the  story 
of  the  descent  of  their  father  and  uncle  into  Xibalba 
and  their  terrible  end. 

Forwarned  is  forearmed,  and  consequently  when 
the  Lords  of  the  Underworld  challenged  them  to  a 
game  of  ball,  they  were  prepared  for  the  worst. 

They  sent  forward  a  small  insect  armed  with  a 
hair  from  Hunapu's  body  to  prick  all  the  figures  in  the 
palace,  and  so  discovered  which  were  of  wood  and  the 
names  of  those  that  were  not.  Among  many  primitive 
peoples  the  knowledge  of  the  names  of  opponents 
serves  as  a  basis  for  a  magical  attack  on  them.  As  a 
result  of  the  information  thus  obtained,  they  avoided 
the  wooden  figures  and  the  red-hot  seat,  much  to  the 
chagrin  of  the  Xibalbans.  Sent  to  fetch  flowers  which 
were  well  guarded,  they  enlisted  the  services  of  ants, 
who  cut  down  the  flowers  and  brought  them  to  the 
twins.  Subsequently  they  passed  successfully  through 
the  houses  of  cold,  tigers,  and  fire,  all  of  which  con- 
tained ordeals,  failure  to  overcome  which  means  death. 

In  the  house  of  bats  misfortune  overtook  them. 
They  were  required  to  pass  the  night  upright  and  mo- 
tionless. There  was  no  trouble  until  the  night  was 
nearly  over,  when  Hunahpu  unfortunately  moved  his 
head.  The  result  was  disastrous,  A  bat  swept  down  on 
him,  and  with  one  slash  of  his  beak  tore  off  the  hero's 
head.  A  tortoise  took  the  place  of  the  decapitated 
head  which  was  suspended  in  the  ball  court.  Xba- 
lanque  went  out  to  play  alone  against  the  lords  of 
Xibalba. 

In  the  course  of  the  game  the  Xibalban  players 
mistook  a  rabbit  which  leaped  out  of  its  hiding-place 
in  the  court  for  the  ball.  They  chased  it  as  it  scuttled 
away,  and  during  their  absence  Xbalanque  substituted 


44  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

his  brother's  head  for  the  tortoise,  and  Hunahpu  was 
restored  to  life. 

The  twins  next  showed  their  magical  powers  by 
killing  themselves.  Their  bones  were  ground  down 
and  thrown  into  the  water.  They  reappeared  as  fishes, 
and  subsequently  as  old  men.  In  this  disguise  they 
killed  and  resurrected  each  other,  arousing  the  curios- 
ity of  the  Xibalbans  who  also  wished  to  experience 
the  sensations  of  death  and  resurrection.  The  twins 
consented  and  killed  the  two  leaders  of  Xibalba,  refus- 
ing afterwards  to  restore  them  to  life.  This  was  the 
end  of  the  struggle.  The  Xibalbans,  thoroughly  cowed, 
submitted  to  their  conquerors.  They  were  forbidden 
to  play  their  ball  game,  and  their  sole  diversions  were 
to  be  the  making  of  pottery  and  bee-keeping. 

The  souls  of  the  first  pair  of  brothers,  their  father 
and  uncle,  were  released  and  became  the  sun  and  moon 
respectively,  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  second  book. 

The  third  book  resumes  the  interrupted  story  of 
the  creation.  The  creators,  disgusted  with  their  former 
efforts  to  design  man,  decided  to  use  maize  this  time 
as  the  material.  There  was  some  difficulty  at  first  in 
finding  the  maize,  but  eventually,  with  the  aid  of 
various  animals,  it  was  discovered  and  ground  down. 
From  this  four  men  were  fashioned,  but  they  proved 
too  intelligent.  Hurakan  breathed  a  cloud  over  them, 
so  that  much  might  be  hidden  from  them.  In  the 
course  of  a  deep  sleep,  an  equal  number  of  women  were 
created.  These  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Quiche.  The 
patriachs  of  other  races  were  then  created. 

The  world,  however,  was  in  twilight;  no  sun  ex- 
isted. In  the  course  of  long  travels,  during  which  they 
wandered  across  mighty  mountain-ranges,  suffering 
great  hardships,  they  arrived  at  the  mountain  Haca- 
vitz.  There  they  were  destined  to  see  the  sun.  Even 
then  it  was  but  an  attenuated  sun,  whose  feeble  rays 
scarcely  lit  up  the  world.  The  gods  of  the  Quiche  were 


Quiche  Legends  45 

turned  to  stone  when  its  rays  rested  upon  them,  and 
the  first  town  was  built.  Eventually  the  patriachs,  the 
founders  of  the  race,  departed,  leaving  behind  them  a 
large  bundle  which  was  known  as  the  "Veiled 
Majesty." 

According  to  the  legend,  human  sacrifice  was  a 
very  early  institution.  The  Quiche  obtained  fire  from 
their  great  tribal  god,  Tohil,  who,  being  a  thunder  god, 
was  able  to  strike  fire  from  his  sandals  as  he  rode  in 
his  cloud  wagon  across  the  heavens.  The  other  tribes 
were  without  fire,  and  to  obtain  it  had  to  supply  vic- 
tims for  sacrifice  which,  were  offered  by  the  Quiche  to 
their  gods. 

After  narrating  the  departure  of  the  patriachs, 
the  Popol  Vuh  becomes  a  fairly  truthful  historical 
record  of  the  Quiche.  As  is  only  natural,  the  Quiche 
almost  invariably  shine  in  comparison  with  their 
neighbors. 


THE  CALENDAR 

In  considering  the  Maya  calendar,  it  must  always 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Mayas  counted  only  elapsed 
time.  In  the  same  way  that  we  talk  of  1.50  p.  m.,  be- 
cause 2  o'clock  has  not  yet  struck,  so  the  Maya,  if  one 
could  imagine  him  in  the  centre  of  Chicago  and  cog- 
nizant of  our  calendar,  would  not  speak  of  the  first 
day  of  the  year  as  January  1st,  but  he  would  call  it 
January  0.  Similarly  our  January  2nd  would  be  to  him 
January  1st.  Although  this  may  appear  rather  singu- 
lar to  us,  it  is  at  least  consistent.  Our  system  is  cer- 
tainly not  consistent,  as  the  day  and  months  and  years 
we  count  in  current  time  and  the  hours  and  minutes 
in  elapsed  time.  Our  year  1927  would,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Mayas,  be  1926  until  midnight  on  December 
31st,  and  only  then  would  he  call  it  1927,  because  only 
then  would  the  year  be  complete. 

The  Mayas  marked  the  passing  of  the  years  by 
means  of  no  less  than  four  systems  of  counting  time, 
which  acted  as  checks  one  upon  the  other,  so  that  if 
the  Maya  artist  made  a  mistake  of  one  day,  we  at  the 
present  time  can  instantly  detect  it,  although  in  our 
own  calendarial  system  to  discover  on  what  day  of  the 
week  May  1st  1588  occurred  would  be  an  enormous 
task. 

The  four  Maya  systems  were  a  year  of  365  days,  a 
year  of  360  days,  a  period  of  260  days,  and  a  lunar 
year.  The  year  of  365  days  was  divided  into  eighteen 
months  of  twenty  days,  to  which  a  period  of  five  days, 
which  were  considered  extremely  unlucky,  was  added 
to  complete  the  year.  For  calculating  the  year  of  360 
days,  these  five  days  were  omitted,  and  the  year  which 
was  known  as  Tun  was  divided  into  18  Uinals 
("months"),  each  of  20  Kin  ("days").  Twenty  Tuns 
made  a  Katun,  that  is  a  period  of  7,200  days;  and 

46 


The  Maya  Calendar  47 

twenty  Katuns  made  a  cycle  (also  known  as  Baktun) 
of  144,000  days,  four  hundred  years  of  360  days  which 
make  approximately  394  years  of  our  system. 

There  was  a  still  higher  unit  known  as  a  great 
cycle  which  probably  consisted  of  thirteen  cycles,  more 
than  five  thousand  years ;  but  as  this  is  outside  practi- 
cal work,  it  can  be  ignored. 

The  sign  for  the  Kin  is  similar  to  a  Saint  An- 
drews* Cross,  which  is  the  sign  for  the  sun,  or  alter- 
nately the  head  of  the  sun  god,  Kinich  Ahau,  with  his 
streaming  beard  and  filed  teeth  (Fig.  5,  Nos.  1-2). 

The  "month"  hieroglyph  is  represented  by  the 
face,  often  highly  conventionalized,  of  the  frog.  In 
one  or  two  cases  where  the  monuments  show  full  figure 
hieroglyphs,  the  frog  is  faithfully  depicted.  In  the 
head  series  the  Uinal  is  recognizable  by  the  prominent 
curl  behind  the  mouth,  and  a  circle  containing  three 
dots  which  is  found  as  a  rule  behind  the  eye.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  the  Zujoia  (Maya)  word  for  frog 
isUo  (Fig.  5,  Nos.  3-4). 

The  Tun  is  in  the  face  form  shown  as  a  bird  with 
the  bleached  jawbone  which  is  the  sign  associated 
with  death  (Fig.  5,  No.  5). 

The  ordinary  form  of  the  hieroglyph  has  for  long 
puzzled  Maya  students.  The  word  Tun  means  "stone," 
and  we  are  told  that  it  was  a  Maya  custom  to  erect  a 
stone  at  the  close  of  each  year.  I  would  suggest  that 
the  bird  with  the  death  sign  is  Tunculuchhu,  a  species 
of  owl.  The  owl,  as  has  been  explained,  was  specially 
associated  with  death.  The  Tun  sign  bears  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  Moan  bird,  an  ominous  being  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Mayas  and  which  is  generally  believed 
to  be  a  species  of  owl.  In  addition  to  this,  the  ordinary 
form  of  the  Tun  hieroglyph  is  strangely  similar  to  the 
name  glyph  of  the  Moan  bird  (Fig.  5,  No.  6). 

The  next  highest  period,  the  Katun,  is  represented 
by  a  symbol,  somewhat  similar  to  the  Tun  sign,  except 


48 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


Fig.  6. 

Maya  Calendrical  Hieroglyphs. 

1-2,  Kin  glyph;  3-4,  Uinal  glyph;  5-6,  Tun  glyph;  7-8  Katun  glyph; 

9-10,  Cycle  (Baktun)  glyph;  11,  Moon  glyph;  12,  Venus  glyph. 


The  Maya  Calendar  49 

that  on  each  side  and  above  it  are  often  shown  two 
small  conventionalized  fish,  or  fish  bones  (Fig.  5,  No. 
8).  Here  again  phoneticism  is  probably  involved  as 
the  Zuyua  (Maya)  word  for  fish  was  Kay;  the  whole 
sign  thus  reads  Kaytun — Katun.  The  face  form  is 
that  of  a  parrot  combined  again  with  the  fish  element 
(Fig.  5,  No.  7).  Often,  too,  the  phonetic  character  is 
further  strengthened  by  the  addition  of  the  Cauac  sign. 

The  Baktun  sign  in  its  ordinary  form  consists  of 
a  double  Cauac  sign  (Fig.  5,  No.  10) .  In  the  head  vari- 
ant a  species  of  parrot  is  again  employed.  The  most 
important  point  to  note  is  that  almost  invariably  a 
hand  covers  or  takes  the  place  of  the  lower  jaw 
(Fig.  5,  No.  9). 

The  Grand  Cycle  sign  has  also  as  its  basis  the 
head  of  a  bird.  The  so-called  Initial  Series  rarely  in- 
cludes the  Grand  Cycle.  First  comes  a  large  intro- 
ductory sign,  and  then  follow  the  cycle  sign  with  its 
numeral,  almost  invariably  a  nine,  then  the  Katun, 
Tun,  Uinal  and  Kin  signs  with  their  respective  num- 
bers. 

The  dates  on  the  monuments  are  usually  read  in 
pairs  from  left  to  right  in  double  columns.  The  num- 
bers are  either  expressed  by  heads,  or  by  the  so-called 
dot  and  bar  method.  The  numbers  up  to  four  are  ex- 
pressed by  dots,  and  from  five  onward  by  a  combina- 
tion of  dots  and  bars.  A  bar  represents  five.  Thirteen, 
therefore,  is  shown  as  two  bars  and  three  dots.  The 
reader,  however,  is  cautioned  not  to  mistake  for  num- 
bers certain  small  crescents  which  are  merely  used  to 
fill  up  space.  For  instance,  the  number  6  is  usually 
sculptured  as  a  bar,  a  dot  and  two  small  crescents  on 
each  side  of  the  dot.  The  crescents  are  entirely  super- 
fluous, and  are  introduced  only  to  preserve  the  balance 
(Fig.  6). 

Illustrations  of  the  head  variants  are  given  also  in 
Fig.  6. 


50 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


©00 


^a(n> 


c 
c 

c 

djuu 


e:© 


o  13  19  1 

Fig.  6. 

Maya  Numbers. 

Above  head  variants  0-19.   Below  "bar  and  dot"  numerals  and  thumb  variantlfor  1. 

After  Joyce. 


The  Maya  Calendar  61 

It  will  be  noticed  that  numbers  from  thirteen  on- 
ward contain  the  characteristic  features  of  the  num- 
bers three  to  nine  respectively. 

0  invariably  had  a  hand  over  the  lower  jaw  which  it 

may  be  remembered  is  the  characteristic  mark  of 
the  cycle  sign. 

1  is  distinguished  by  the  two  or  three  piece  forehead 

ornament. 

2  occurs  only  once  in  the  Old  Empire,  at  Piedras 

Negras. 

3  is  characterized  by  a  banded  hat. 

4  bears  a  resemblance  to  the  sun  god  sign.  The  filed 

teeth,  projecting  fang,  and  quadrangular  staring 
eye  are  present. 

5  wears  a  head-dress  which  is  the  Tun  sign. 

6  has  an  axe  in  its  eye. 

7  is  very  rare.  It  has,  however,  a  peculiar  scroll  mark 

around  the  eye. 

8  is  distinguished  by  the  spiral  projecting  from  the 

forehead. 

9  has  a  number  of  dots  on  the  chin.    Sometimes  a 

beard  occurs. 

10  shows  the  characteristic  bleached  jawbone  of  the 

death  god. 

11  is  seldom  met  with.   The  peculiar  head-dress  may 

be  the  characteristic  symbol. 

12  has  a  projecting  lower  lip. 

13  is  either  a  combination  of  3  and  10,  or  a  bird-like 

animal  with  a  very  prominent  beak  and  a  fang 
projecting  from  the  mouth. 

The  numbers  from  14  to  19  are  represented  with  the 
head  for  the  second  digit  with  the  jawbone  character- 
istic of  10.  Zero  is  also  expressed  by  the  sign  shown 
in  Fig.  6,  and  one  is  shown  by  the  so-called  thumb 
sign  (Fig.  6). 


62 


Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 


IMIX 


BEN 


CA8AN 


IK 


CHICCHAN  CIMI 


MULUC  OC 


IX 


AH8AU 


O 
MANIK 

& 


2;® 

CHUEN 


AHAO 

Fig.  7. 

Maya  Day  Signs  from  the  Monuments. 

After  Joyce. 


KAN 


LAMAT 


E8 


MEN  CIB 


EZNAB  CAUAC  AHAU 


The  Maya  Calendar  63 

Reverting  to  the  calendar,  we  have  yet  to  deal 
with  the  260-day  count.  The  original  name  for  this 
period  has  been  lost.  It  is,  however,  usually  known  by 
the  name  Tzolkin  or  more  usually  by  the  rather  inap- 
propriate corresponding  Mexican  word,  Tonalamatl. 
The  Tonalamatl  consisted  of  a  series  of  twenty  signs 
with  which  the  numbers  1-13  were  combined.  The 
days  with  their  correct  sequence  are  illustrated  in 
Fig.  7.  The  numbers  1-13  and  the  twenty  days  kept 
repeating  themselves  through  all  eternity. 

A  short  example  of  how  the  system  worked  is 
given  below: — 


13  Imix 

10  Chuen 

7  Imix 

1  Ik 

11  Eb 

8  Ik 

2  Akbal 

12  Ben 

9  Akbal 

3  Kan 

13  Ix 

10  Kan 

4  Chicchan 

1  Men 

11  Chicchan 

5  Cimi 

2  Cib 

12  Cimi 

6  Manik 

3  Caban 

13  Manik 

7  Lamat 

4  Eznab 

1  Lamat 

8  Muluc 

5  Cauac 

2  Muluc 

9  Oc 

6  Ahau 

3  Oc 

In  addition  to  these  day  signs  combined  with  the 
numbers  1-13,  there  were  eighteen  months  of  twenty 
days  and  a  short  five-day  month  at  the  end  of  the  year 
to  complete  365  days.  The  year  opened  with  the  month 
Pop,  which  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest  fell  on 
July  26th  (Gregorian).  As  the  Mayas  used  no  leap 
year  intercalation,  the  position  of  New  Year  was  con- 
tinually shifting  in  the  tropical  year. 

The  months  were  as  follows  (see  Fig.  8) : — 

Pop 

Uo 

Zip 

Zotz 
Tzec 

The  Uayeb  month  of  five  days  was  considered 
very  unlucky,  and  during  its  course  all  work  was 
avoided  as  far  as  possible. 

The  twenty  days  of  the  month  were  indicated  by 
the  numerals  0  to  19.   The  first  day  of  the  year  was 


Xul 

Zac 

Pax 

Yaxkin 

Ceh 

Kayab 

Mol 

Mac 

Cumhu 

Chen 

Kankin 

Uayeb  (5  days  only) 

Yax 

Muan 

64 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


POP 


UO 


ZIP 


ZOTZ 


TZEC 


xuu 


YAXKIN 


MOL 


YAX 


ZAC 


CEH 


MAC 


KANKIN 


MUAH 


KAYAB  CUMHU  UAYEB 

Fig.  8. 

Maya  Month  Signs  from  the  Monuments. 
After  Joyce. 


The  Maya  Calendar  66 

0  Pop ;  and  the  last  day,  4  Uayeb.  The  last  day  of  the 
month  Pop,  19  Pop,  was  followed  by  0  Uo,  the  first  day 
of  the  second  month. 

The  Mayas  may  then  be  said  to  have  used  a  system 
to  denote  a  day  which  might  be  freely  translated  as 
3rd  Wednesday,  January  23rd.  Whereas  Wednesday 
recurs  every  seven  days  in  our  calendar.  The  system 
of  combining  the  day  with  thirteen  numbers  ensures 
that  the  day  sign  can  recur  only  once  in  two  hundred 
and  sixty  days. 

In  the  course  of  the  365-day  year,  the  day  signs 
will  each  be  repeated  eighteen  times,  but  there  will  be 
a  surplus  of  five  days  at  the  end  of  the  year  (365-7-20 
=18+5  days) ,  so  that  each  year  New  Year's  Day  will 
start  with  a  sign  five  places  farther  down  the  list,  at 
the  end  of  four  years  returning  to  the  original  place. 

These  four  signs  were  known  as  the  year  bearers, 
and  were  in  the  epoch  of  the  Old  Empire  the  signs  Ik, 
Manik,  Eb,  and  Caban.  Later  in  the  New  Empire  they 
were  shifted  forward  one  position,  and  just  about  the 
time  of  the  Spanish  conquest  they  seem  to  have  under- 
gone another  shift,  Kan,  Muluc,  Ix  and  Cauac  becom- 
ing the  year  bearers. 

The  Haab  (365-day  year)  and  the  Tonalamatl  in 
their  relationship  may  be  compared  to  two  cogwheels, 
one  of  365  teeth,  the  other  having  260  teeth.  Each 
tooth  represents  a  day.  If  we  put  our  wheel  into  mo- 
tion with  the  tooth  0  Pop  fitting  into  the  socket  2  Ik, 
to  take  an  example  at  random,  when  the  large  cogwheel 
has  made  one  complete  revolution,  the  smaller  wheel 
will  have  made  a  revolution,  and  will  have  progressed 
another  105  cogs  (the  difference  between  365  and  260) 
to  the  sign  3  Manik.  The  cog-tooth  0  Pop  will  only  fit 
into  the  socket  2  Ik  after  52  revolutions  of  the  wheel, 
that  is  52  years  of  365  days. 

So  we  see  the  same  combination  of  months  and 
days  with  their  respective  numbers  can  occur  once  only 


66 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


Fig,  9. 

A  Long  Count  Date.  Stele  24  at  Naranjo. 

After  Morley. 


The  Maya  Calendar  67 

in  52  years.  This  period  is  known  as  the  calendar 
round.  When  these  signs  are  combined  with  their  re- 
spective Kin,  Uinal,  Tun,  Katun,  and  Cycle  signs,  they 
form  the  usual  full  method  of  reckoning  of  the  Old 
Empire,  and  can  occur  only  once  in  all  eternity. 

All  dates  in  Maya  history,  with  two  or  three  in- 
significant exceptions,  are  reckoned  from  the  date  4 
Ahau  8  Cumhu  (3113  B.C.),  which  was  probably  a 
mythical  date  of  the  same  class  as  the  arbitrary  date 
of  the  foundation  of  Rome  used  by  the  Romans  in  their 
system  of  reckoning.  Let  us  take  a  trial  date  and  test 
its  accuracy.  On  Stele  24  at  Naranjo  there  is  a  date 
which  reads,  "9  Cycles,  12  Katuns,  10  Tuns,  5  Uinals, 
12  Kins,  4  Eb,  10  Yax,"  usually  written  9-12-10-5-12. 
4Eb,  10  Yax  (Fig.  9). 

9  Cycles  of  144,000  days  =  1,296,000  days 

12  Katuns  of      7,200  days  =       86,400  days 

10  Tuns  of  360  days  =         3,600  days 

5  Uinals  of  20  days  =  100  days 

12  Kin  of  1  day    =  12  days 


Total     1,386,112  days 

Calculating  1,368,112  days  from  the  date  4  Ahau  8 
Cumhu,  the  date  4  Eb  10  Yax  is  reached,  which  is  the 
same  as  that  shown  on  the  monument. 

Lastly,  the  Mayas  fixed  their  dates  by  a  lunar 
count,  reckoning  moons  in  groups  of  five  and  six. 
They  stated  how  many  days  after  a  new  moon  the  date 
in  question  was,  how  many  moons  of  the  group  had 
been  completed,  and  whether  the  actual  moon,  then 
running  its  course,  was  of  29  or  30  days.  The  lunar 
period  is  slightly  over  291^  days,  but  the  Mayas  reck- 
oned in  alternate  29  and  30  day  periods,  inserting  an 
occasional  extra  30-day  period  to  counterbalance  the 
fraction  over  29^^  days  that  form  the  lunar  period. 
The  moon  sign  is  shown  in  Fig.  5,  No.  11. 


68  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

The  planet  Venus  (Fig.  5,  No.  12)  was  the  object 
of  an  important  cult.  The  revolution  of  Venus  occupies 
a  little  less  than  584  days;  five  of  these  Venus  years 
equalled  eight  mean  solar  years  (584  x  5  =  2920, 
365  X  8  =  2920). 

The  Mayas,  however,  were  well  aware  that  the 
Venus  year  was  actually  less  than  584  days.  They 
knew  its  length  to  the  second  decimal  point.  The  actual 
period  is  583.92  days,  and  to  correct  this  error  the 
Maya  dropped  four  days  at  the  end  of  every  sixty-one 
Venus  years,  and  at  the  end  of  every  three  hundred 
Venus  years  eight  days  were  dropped.  This  system 
was  so  accurate  that  had  the  Maya  Venus  calendar 
continued  to  function  uninterruptedly  up  to  the  present 
day,  the  error  over  this  period  of  over  a  thousand 
years  would  not  have  amounted  to  more  than  a  day. 

Such  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  cycle  of  Venus, 
the  revolutions  of  which  are  by  no  means  regular, 
points  to  centuries  of  sustained  observations.  Up  to 
the  present  no  deity  in  the  Maya  pantheons  has  been 
satisfactorily  identified  with  Venus.  In  Mexico,  how- 
ever, Quetzalcoatl  was  closely  associated  with  Venus  as 
the  Morning  Star. 

In  addition  to  Venus,  the  planets  Mars,  Mercury, 
and  Saturn  were  closely  observed,  and  their  phases 
accurately  calculated.  When  one  recollects  that  the 
Mayas  were  dependent  solely  on  the  naked  eye  for  their 
observations,  one  is  astounded  at  the  grasp  they  had 
on  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

In  various  cities  regular  lines  of  sight  existed  for 
the  observation  of  the  equinoxes,  solstices,  and  other 
important  points  of  the  tropical  year,  notably  at 
TJaxactun,  Copan,  and  Chichen  Itza.  The  study  of 
Maya  numeration,  astronomical  knowledge,  and  calen- 
darial  systems  is  a  science  which  has  already  produced 
sufficient  books  to  fill  several  shelves.  Within  the  limi- 
tations of  this  book  it  is  impossible  to  give  more  than  a 


The  Maya  Calendar  59 

bare  outline  of  this  fascinating  subject.  Readers  who 
wish  to  go  more  deeply  into  the  subject  are  referred 
to  the  list  of  books  on  the  subject  given  in  the  bibli- 
ography. 


RELIGIOUS  CEREMONIES  AND  HUMAN 
SACRIFICE 

The  priesthood  among  the  Mayas  was  divided  into 
at  least  four  important  divisions  known  as  Ah  Kin 
Mai,  Chilan,  Nacon,  and  Chac.  Ah  Kin  Mai,  known 
also  as  Ahau  Kan  Mai,  was  the  high  priest  par  excel- 
lence of  the  Mayas.  He  was  held  in  very  high  esteem, 
and  the  whole  community,  both  priests  and  laymen, 
contributed  to  his  support.  He  officiated  only  at  the 
most  important  religious  ceremonies,  and  seems  to 
have  been  more  concerned  with  the  scientific  and  astro- 
nomical side  of  religion.  He  was  consulted  by  the 
nobility  on  important  matters  and  tendered  his  advice. 
He  was  in  charge  of  the  education  of  candidates  for 
-i^the  priesthood,  to  which  as  a  rule  the  second  sons  of 
the  nobility  were  dedicated.  The  education  consisted 
of  instruction  in  the  calendar,  the  feasts  and  cere- 
monies, the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  the  oc- 
currence and  significance  of  lucky  and  ill-omened 
days,  history,  methods  of  divination,  cures  for  illness, 
and  finally  reading  and  writing. 

Under  him  were  the  Chilans,  who  constituted  the 
regular  priesthood.  They  fulfilled  the  regular  func- 
tions of  priests.  They  officiated  at  the  feasts  and  sacri- 
fices, administered  the  sacraments,  preached  and 
served  as  mouth-pieces  for  the  oracles  of  the  gods.  In 
addition  to  their  duties  as  priests  and  soothsayers, 
they  also  acted  as  medical  advisers  to  the  populace. 
The  chief  method  employed  was  bleeding,  though 
doubtless  evil  spirits  were  also  exorcised. 

A  grade  lower  were  the  Nacons,  whose  sole  func- 
tion was  to  open  the  breasts  of  the  sacrificial  victims, 
tear  out  their  hearts  and  pass  them  on  a  plate  to  the 
Chilan.  The  Nacons  held  their  office  permanently,  but 

60 


Reugious  Ceremonies  and  Human  Sacrifices  61 

there  was  also  a  post  of  great  importance  which  was 
held  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and  the  holder  of 
which  was  also  known  as  Nacon.  This  position  was, 
however,  pre-eminently  a  military  one,  combined  to 
a  certain  extent  with  priestly  duties  and  abstinence. 
Good  generalship  was  useless  without  the  aid  of 
heaven,  and  for  that  reason  the  functions  of  priest 
and  general  were  blended,  thus  insuring,  to  paraphrase 
Napoleon's  remark,  that  the  gods  were  on  the  side  of 
the  well-led  battalions. 

The  Chacs  were  old  men,  four  in  number,  who 
were  chosen  afresh  each  time  to  aid  the  priests  in  their 
duties  on  the  occasions  of  feasts  and  public  sacrifices. 
Among  their  manifold  activities  was  the  duty  of  hold- 
ing down  victims  on  the  altar  as  the  Chilan  plunged 
his  knife  into  their  breasts. 

Human  sacrifice,  it  would  appear,  was  not  a  gen- 
eral custom  in  the  cities  of  the  Old  Empire.  Among 
all  the  scenes  depicted  on  the  monuments,  only  one 
would  seem  to  refer  to  this  practice.  This  is  found  at 
Piedras  Negras,  which  owing  to  its  proximity  to  Cam- 
peche  and  Tabasco  may  have  been  influenced  by  the 
customs  of  the  Mexican  immigrants.  Surely  human 
sacrifice,  which  must  have  been  the  culmination  of  the 
religious  rites  of  any  nation  who  indulged  in  it,  would 
have  been  the  theme  of  many  sculptures  if  it  was  in 
fact  practised.  Scenes  showing  richly  garbed  priests 
are  numerous  on  the  monuments  of  Central  America, 
and  there  are  several  representations  of  the  practice 
of  blood-letting  by  piercing  the  tongue  and  ears. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  human  sacrifice  was 
introduced  by  the  Nahua  mercenaries  who  settled  at 
Chichen  Itza.  However,  the  practice  never  reached  the 
enormous  proportions  it  achieved  in  Mexico  under  the 
Aztecs. 

Prisoners  of  war  were  sacrificed,  and  when  these 
were  not  forthcoming,  the  community  often  subscribed 


62  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

to  buy  slaves.  In  times  of  dire  distress  the  more  de- 
voted members  of  the  community  even  offered  their 
own  sons.  Until  the  day  appointed  for  the  sacrifice 
the  victims  were  well  treated,  although  strictly 
guarded,  and  were  taken  through  the  land  in  triumphal 
procession  from  town  to  town  with  much  feasting  and 
dancing.  Meanwhile  the  Chilan  and  all  others  who 
were  to  take  part  in  the  coming  festival  had  to  undergo 
a  period  of  rigorous  abstinence  and  fasting.  There 
were  various  methods  of  sacrifice  employed,  of  which 
the  arrow  sacrifice  must  have  been  the  most  awe- 
inspiring. 

On  the  fatal  day  all  gathered  in  the  courtyard  of 
the  temple  where  the  victim  was  stripped  naked  and 
his  body  smeared  all  over  with  a  blue  unguent,  his 
only  clothing  consisting  of  a  special  pent-shaped  head- 
dress. Then,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  the  whole 
congregation  danced  with  the  victim,  revolving  round 
a  large  stake.  (Whereupon  the  unhappy  man  was 
raised  to  the  stake  and  tied  to  it,  while  the  people  con- 
tinued to  dance  round  and  round.  The  priest  then  ap- 
proached him  and  with  a  sharp  stone  knife  made  a 
wound  in  the  victim's  loins,  and  with  the  blood  that 
gushed  out  the  priest  next  anointed  the  features  of 
the  god.  At  a  given  signal  the  crowd,  who  had  never 
ceased  to  dance,  raised  their  bows  and  arrows,  and  as 
each  man  whirled  by  the  victim  in  the  mad  dance  he 
discharged  an  arrow  into  his  heart  which  had  been 
previously  marked  with  white,  so  that  the  arrows  stood 
out  like  the  stamens  of  some  gigantic  sunflower. 

A  more  usual  method  of  sacrifice  was  by  removing 
the  heart.  In  their  first  part  the  proceedings  were 
similar  to  those  of  the  arrow  sacrifice.  The  victim  was 
stripped,  painted  blue,  crowned  with  the  peculiar  head- 
dress, and  brought  to  the  temple  courtyard.  The  evil 
spirits  were  driven  away,  and  the  round  sacrificial 
altar  was  also  smeared  with  the  blue  ointment.  Then 


Religious  Ceremonies  and  Human  Sacrifices  63 

the  four  Chacs  seized  the  victim,  placing  him  on  his 
shoulders  on  the  stone,  each  Chac  holding  one  limb. 
The  Nacon  then  approached  with  a  stone  knife  and 
plunged  it  into  the  ribs  just  below  the  left  breast. 
Quickly  thrusting  his  hand  into  the  aperture,  he 
wrenched  out  the  still  palpitating  heart  which  he 
placed  on  a  plate  and  handed  over  to  the  Chilan.  Pass- 
ing swiftly  to  the  idol  near-by,  the  priest  smeared  its 
face  with  the  fresh  blood.  This  account  is  taken  from 
Bishop  Landa;  such  an  operation  would,  on  physical 
grounds,  have  been  extremely  difficult.  Sometimes  this 
sacrifice  was  made  on  the  top  platform  of  the  temple. 
In  this  case  the  body  of  the  dead  man  was  thrown 
down  to  the  junior  priests  below,  who  quickly  removed 
the  skin,  save  that  of  the  hands  and  feet.  The  Chilan 
thereupon  exchanged  his  robes  for  the  skin  and,  clad 
in  it,  danced  solemnly  with  the  congregation. 

Sometimes  the  bodies  of  the  victims  were  buried 
in  the  courtyard  of  the  temple,  or  sometimes  the  body 
was  divided  among  the  nobility  and  those  who  were 
near  at  hand,  and  was  solemnly  eaten.  The  Chilan 
reserved  for  himself  the  head,  hands,  and  feet.  In  any 
case  the  victim  by  his  method  of  dying  became  very 
holy.  When  a  prisoner  of  war  had  been  sacrificed,  his 
captor  retained  the  bones  and  wore  them  on  state 
occasions  as  a  mark  of  prowess.  The  sacrifices  were 
not  confined  to  one  sex,  women  were  equally  eligible, 
and  were  in  fact  often  sacrificed. 

All  these  rites  described  above  were  practised  by 
the  Aztecs  and  other  Mexican  peoples  at  the  time  of 
the  Conquest. 

At  Chichen  Itza  a  peculiar  form  of  sacrifice  was 
practised.  Victims  were  thrown  alive  into  the  deep 
natural  wells  of  that  locality.  People  seem  to  have 
come  from  great  distances  to  attend  these  ceremonies, 
and  used  to  hurl  their  valuables  into  the  water.  Recent 
dredging  operations  have  brought  to  light  great  quan- 


I5 


64  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

titles  of  human  bones,  jade,  and  gold,  including  objects 
which  are  of  Costa  Rican  technique. 

Individuals  practised  various  forms  of  sacrifice 
by  blood-letting.  The  most  common  form  consisted 
of  passing  a  cord  into  which  were  knotted  a  number  of 
thorns,  across  the  surface  of  the  tongue.  The  blood 
which  flowed  as  a  result  of  this  was  smeared  on  the 
gods'  faces.  Cheeks  too  were  often  pierced,  and  ears 
were  cut  round  and  left  hanging. 

Women,  although  very  religious,  did  not  apparent- 
ly practise  these  forms  of  sacrifice. 

For  minor  festivals,  animals,  fish,  and  birds  were 
sacrificed.  Sometimes  the  heart  was  removed;  on 
other  occasions  the  animal  was  offered  whole,  either 
alive  or  dead.  It  was  not  an  unusual  practice,  either, 
to  cook  the  animals.  However,  whatever  the  process, 
the  same  custom  of  smearing  the  idols  with  the  victim's 
blood  was  invariably  followed.  In  addition  maize 
cakes  and  every  kind  of  dish  or  drink  were  offered, 
and  copal  incense  was  burnt. 

The  ceremonies  that  ushered  in  the  New  Year 
were  of  special  importance  and  varied  according  to 
the  day  on  which  the  year  began.  As  has  been  ex- 
plained, these  could  only  consist  of  four  which  had  in 
some  way  been  shifted  from  the  days  Ik,  Manik,  Eb, 
and  Caban,  the  year  bearers  of  the  Old  Empire,  to 
the  days  Akbal,  Lamat,  Ben,  and  Eznab,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  sojourn  of  Bishop  Landa  in  Yucatan  they 
seem  to  have  been  shifted  a  place  further  to  the  days 
Kan,  Muluc,  Ix,  and  Cauac.  Kan  was  associated  with 
the  East ;  Muluc  with  the  North  and  Kinich  Ahau,  the 
sun  god,  Ix  with  the  West  and  Itzamna,  the  sky  god ; 
and  Cauac  with  the  South  and  one  of  the  death  gods. 
The  first  two  were  considered  lucky  years;  Ix  and 
Cauac,  unlucky. 

The  New  Year  ceremonies  commenced  in  the 
Uayeb  days  of  the  old  year.  The  ceremonies  connected 


Religious  Ceremonies  and  Human  Sacrifices  65 

with  a  Kan  year  were  as  follows.  A  hollow  earthen 
image  of  Kan-U-Uayeb  was  first  made  and  carried  to 
the  pile  of  stones  at  the  south  gate  of  the  city  (the 
south  was  associated  with  the  dying  year) .  One  of  the 
nobility  was  chosen  master  of  ceremonies.  In  his 
house  all  the  feasts  were  held,  and  here  a  statue  was 
raised  of  Bolon-Zacab,  who  presided  over  the  coming 
year.  Next  the  whole  community  sallied  forth  to  the 
south  pile  of  stones  along  the  road  which  previously 
had  been  adorned  with  arches  and  palm  branches. 
Arrived  at  the  spot,  the  priests  incensed  the  figure 
of  E^n-U-Uayeb  with  a  mixture  of  copal  and  maize, 
and  sacrificed  a  young  turkey.  The  image  of  Bolon 
Zacab  was  then  raised  on  a  stick,  and  on  top  was 
placed  a  ray-fish  as  a  sign  of  water.  Dancing  and 
rejoicing,  the  throng  carried  it  to  the  noble's  house 
where  it  was  set  up  in  front  of  the  image  of  Kan-U- 
Uayeb.  Offerings  of  animals,  fish,  and  drink  were 
then  made,  and  the  food  subsequently  was  divided 
among  the  visitors,  the  priest  receiving  as  his  share 
a  haunch  of  venison.  Besides  this,  others  cut  their 
ears  and  smeared  the  idols  with  their  blood  and  offered 
heart-shaped  loaves  of  maize  meal,  or  of  calabash  seeds. 
These  ceremonies  were  kept  up  during  the  five  days  of 
Uayeb.  Failure  to  carry  out  the  ceremonies  to  the 
letter  would  invoke  the  wrath  of  the  gods. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  New  Year,  0  Pop,  Bolon- 
Zacab  was  carried  to  the  temple  and  Kan-U-Uayeb  to 
the  East  Gate,  where  he  watched  over  the  interests  of 
the  city  during  the  ensuing  year.  When  this  ceremony 
was  completed,  the  people  returned  to  their  homes  to 
celebrate  the  New  Year  in  the  family  circle. 

In  case  the  year  might  still  not  prove  favorable, 
further  ceremonies  ensued.  The  oracle  bid  the  popu- 
lace make  an  image  of  Itzamna  Kauil  which  was  put  in 
the  temple  of  the  patron  god  of  the  year ;  incense  was 
burnt,  and  a  dog  or  a  man  was  sacrificed.  The  method 


66  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

varied  somewhat  from  those  usually  employed.  A 
large  heap  of  stones  was  raised  in  the  temple  court- 
yard onto  which  the  bound  victim,  whether  man  or 
dog,  was  hurled  from  a  greater  height;  then  immedi- 
ately the  Nacon  rushed  forward  and  removed  the 
heart  in  the  usual  manner,  and  the  blood  was  smeared 
on  the  image.  A  special  feature  of  these  additional 
ceremonies  was  a  dance  of  old  women  who  were 
specially  chosen  and  wore  a  distinctive  dress.  A  spirit 
was  said  to  descend  and  receive  this  sacrifice. 

If,  however,  even  after  these  ceremonies  the  com- 
ing year  should  prove  unfavorable,  the  deity  was  ex- 
cused on  the  grounds  that  the  ceremony  had  not  been 
properly  carried  out. 

Somewhat  similar  ceremonies  ushered  in  the  New 
Years  associated  with  Muluc,  Ix,  and  Cauac. 

The  Muluc  years  were  the  occasion  of  a  special 
dance  on  high  stilts  and  a  dance  of  old  women  with 
terra-cotta  dogs  in  their  hands.  These  ceremonies  are 
depicted  in  the  Troano-Cortesianus  Codex  with  great 
clarity. 

The  Ix  years  were  considered  to  bring  in  their 
train  famine,  eye-sores,  and  illnesses,  if  the  ceremonies 
were  not  duly  observed.  The  only  compensation  was 
the  promise  of  an  abundant  cotton  harvest.  Drunken 
carousals  were  the  order  of  the  day,  and  were  con- 
sidered to  have  an  appreciable  effect  in  mitigating  the 
evils  of  this  unpropitious  year. 

The  Cauac  years  were  characterized  by  a  special 
dance  which  endured  all  day.  A  hollow  mound  of  wood 
was  erected  having  entrances,  and  on  top  a  man  sang 
and  beat  the  drum,  while  the  congregation  danced  be- 
low. In  the  evening  the  pile  was  burnt  and  the  embers 
smoothed  out.  As  the  dance  continued,  the  more  cour- 
ageous and  fervent  walked  across  the  hot  embers. 
Although  badly  burnt,  they  earned  the  admiration  of 
their  fellow  men  and  the  appreciation  of  the  gods. 


Religious  Ceiremonies  and  Human  Sacrifices  67 

During  the  course  of  the  year  feasts  were  being 
continually  held  to  propitiate  special  gods  to  obtain 
rain  or  good  harvests,  or  to  pay  respect  to  the  patron 
god  of  some  specialized  occupation. 

In  Zip,  for  example,  both  the  sorcerers  and  fishers 
held  feasts. 

In  the  last  quarter  of  Xul,  the  great  feast  of 
Kuculcan  was  held  at  Mani,  although  until  the  destruc- 
tion of  Mayapan  it  was  held  at  that  city.  The  other 
cities  took  it  in  turn  to  send  deputations  with  four  or 
five  plumed  banners  which  were  carried  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  gaily  decked  temple  of  Kuculcan  and 
placed  on  the  roof  of  the  building.  Offerings  of  food, 
drink,  and  incense  were  made,  and  the  ceremony  of 
kindling  new  fire  took  place.  A  number  of  buffoons 
took  part  in  the  ceremonies  and  passed  round  from 
house  to  house,  entertaining  the  people  and  collecting 
money  for  the  temple.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  offer- 
ings were  eventually  divided  between  the  priests,  the 
nobility,  and  the  mummers.  On  the  last  day  of  the 
feast  Kuculcan  was  believed  to  descend  from  the 
sky  and  receive  the  offerings  made  to  him. 

A  festival  in  honor  of  all  the  gods  was  held  in 
the  month  Mol.  Besides  the  usual  sacrifices  and  offer- 
ings, the  tools  of  every  craft  and  the  domestic  utensils 
were  painted  with  the  holy  blue  ointment.  The  chil- 
dren too  were  painted,  and  had  nine  raps  administered 
them  on  their  wrists  by  an  old  woman  dressed  in  a 
feather  robe.  The  object  of  this  ceremony  was  to  en- 
sure that  the  children  grew  up  experts  each  one  in  his 
or  her  trade. 

In  either  the  month  Chen  or  Yax  the  temple  of 
the  Chacs  was  renovated.  If  necessary,  the  clay  images 
and  braziers  were  replaced. 

An  interesting  festival  was  held  in  honor  of  the 
Chacs  and  Itzamna  in  the  month  Mac.  A  large  fire 
was  lit  in  the  courtyard  of  a  temple,  and  into  it  were 


68  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

cast  the  hearts  of  every  possible  species  of  wild  beast, 
bird,  or  reptile,  from  lion,  puma,  and  jaguar  to  croco- 
dile and  lizard.  If  the  hearts  of  some  animals  could 
not  be  obtained,  imitation  substitutes  were  fashioned 
out  of  incense.  As  soon  as  all  the  hearts  were  con- 
sumed, the  fire  was  put  out  with  jugs  of  water,  and 
this  would  cause  the  year  to  be  one  of  plentiful  rain. 
This  is  a  clear  case  of  sympathetic  magic. 

Warriors  had  their  especial  feasts  in  the  month 
Pax  in  the  larger  cities.  The  priests  and  nobility 
fasted  for  five  days.  The  military  Nacon  was  carried 
with  great  pomp  and  display  to  the  temple  amid  clouds 
of  incense.  A  special  war  dance  was  performed,  a  dog 
was  sacrificed,  and  jars  full  of  wine  were  ceremonially 
broken  by  the  Chacs.  The  feast  concluded  with  a  great 
orgy  of  drunkenness  in  which  the  only  man  to  remain 
sober  was  the  Nacon,  who,  during  his  period  of  office, 
was  forbidden  to  get  drunk. 

There  were  a  large  number  of  other  feasts  of 
varying  importance  and  interest. 

The  Spanish  friars  were  surprised  to  discover  that 
confession  was  practised  among  the  Mayas,  as  well  as 
a  form  of  baptism  described  in  another  chapter.  The 
number  of  similarities  between  the  two  faiths  led 
them  to  believe  that  St.  Thomas  had  preached  the 
gospel  in  these  parts  and  that  after  some  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  of  degeneration  Christian  practices  still 
remained.  However,  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason 
to  believe  that  Christianity  even  reached  the  New 
World  before  the  arrival  of  Columbus. 

Confession  was  usually  postponed  until  illness 
frightened  the  people  into  confessing.  In  the  absence 
of  a  priest,  parents  could  hear  their  children's  con- 
fessions, or  a  husband  his  wife's,  and  vice  versa.  If 
a  number  of  sins  were  omitted,  relatives  or  near 
friends  prompted  the  confessor.  Robbery,  homicide, 
adultery,  and  false  witness  were  the  chief  sins,  but 


Religious  Ceremonies  and  Human  Sacrifices         69 


Fig.  10. 

Maya  Figurines.     Above  from  Palenque.     Below,  left,  bom 

Chichen  Itza.    Below,  right,  from  Xkichmook. 

In  Field  Museum  (Hall  8.  Case  14). 


70  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

strangely  enough  premeditated  sins  were  not  con- 
fessed. A  favorite  form  of  fasting  took  the  form  of 
eating  saltless  and  pepperless  dishes,  and  sometimes 
meat  was  not  eaten.  Travellers  invariably  carried  in- 
cense with  them,  and  members  of  the  nobility  possessed 
their  own  private  oratories. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  number  of  these 
ceremonies  are  still  practised  among  the  Lacondones, 
who  are  direct  descendants  of  the  ancient  Mayas,  in- 
habiting the  valley  of  the  Usamacinta.  At  present  the 
engulfing  wave  of  western  civilization  laps  around 
them,  but  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  sweeping  away  the 
tenacious  vestiges  of  the  old  religion.  These  modern 
Mayas  still  make  pilgrimages  to  the  sacred  sites  of 
their  ancestors  and  burn  copal  amidst  the  abandoned 
ruins  and  sprawling  tree  trunks.  The  censers  are  still 
renewed  year  by  year,  as  they  were  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards.  Stone  images  of  the  gods  are  still 
handed  down  from  father  to  son.  It  is  comforting  to 
think  that  the  worship  of  the  old  gods  of  the  Mayas 
still  lingers  on  in  outlying  parts.  The  god  of  the  har- 
vest rains,  and  the  god  that  rides  on  the  storm  cloud 
are  still  looked  up  to  and  worshipped  with  the  young 
god  of  maize  and  the  great  sky  god. 


SOCIAL  LIFE 

Most  primitive  peoples  show  a  tendency  to  ac- 
centuate any  little  differences  that  may  mark  them  off 
from  their  neighbors.  Some  tribes  practise  tattooing 
or  scarification,  others  dress  their  hair  in  a  special 
manner,  or  adopt  some  distinctive  clothing.  The  Mayas 
were  no  exception.  Naturally  an  extremely  broad- 
headed  people  (Plate  XIV),  they  practised  skull  de- 
formation further  to  differentiate  them  from  their 
neighbors,  some  of  whom  were  markedly  narrow- 
headed. 

Four  or  five  days  after  birth  children  were  placed 
mouth  downward  on  a  small  cradle  constructed  of 
wooden  boards,  a  board  was  then  tied  to  the  back  of 
the  head,  and  another  to  the  forehead,  and  these  two 
boards  were  tightly  lashed  together,  so  that  the  head, 
unable  to  grow  normally,  had  to  expand  in  the  only 
possible  direction,  upward.  The  effect  of  this  opera- 
tion was  to  give  the  Mayas  sugar-loaf  heads,  and  this 
is  confirmed  by  the  sculptures  on  the  monuments  which 
invariably  depict  the  people  with  a  receding  forehead 
that  forms  a  straight  line  with  the  nose. 

Squinting  too  was  considered  a  sign  of  beauty, 
and  was  deliberately  caused  by  the  mothers,  who  sus- 
pended some  small  object  from  their  children's  hair, 
which,  dangling  between  the  eyebrows,  had  in  time  the 
desired  effect. 

Beards  were  not  popular,  and  the  Maya  mothers 
are  said  to  have  scalded  the  faces  of  the  boys  with  hot 
cloths  to  prevent  hair  growing.  No  wonder.  Bishop 
Landa  says,  the  children  were  brought  up  in  a  rough 
manner. 

Up  to  the  age  of  five  or  so  they  went  about  naked, 
and  were  very  jolly  and  mischievous  children.  Landa 
tells  us  their  dark  complexion  was  due  to  two  causes, 

71 


72  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  sun  and  too  many  baths.  In  mediaeval  times 
Europeans  were  little  acquainted  with  water,  and  the 
early  Spaniards  were  surprised  and  pained  to  see  how 
the  Mayas  were  perpetually  bathing. 

A  form  of  baptism  was  practised,  the  word  for 
which  is  zihU,  which  means  "rebirth."  Notice  of 
baptism  was  given  by  the  parents  to  the  priest,  and  a 
day  was  decided  on,  care  being  taken  that  the  day 
was  not  an  unlucky  one.  The  courtyard  of  the  house 
in  which  the  ceremony  was  to  be  held  was  swept  clean 
and  strewn  with  leaves,  and  the  children  were  gathered 
there,  the  boys  in  one  group,  the  girls  in  another.  A 
godfather  looked  after  the  former,  and  an  old  woman 
acted  as  godmother  for  the  latter. 

The  house  was  purified,  and  the  evil  spirits  driven 
out  by  an  elaborate  ceremony.  The  four  Chacs  took  up 
positions  in  the  different  corners,  and  sitting  on  small 
wooden  forms  stretched  a  cord  from  one  to  the  other, 
forming  a  square  within  which  were  the  children.  The 
parents  of  the  children  then  entered.  In  the  centre  was 
the  priest  seated  by  a  brazier,  and  as  each  child  came 
up  to  him,  he  handed  him  or  her  a  few  grains  of  maize 
and  incense,  which  the  child  threw  on  the  brazier. 
When  this  was  concluded,  a  bundle  was  made  of  the 
brazier,  the  ropes,  and  a  bowl  of  wine,  and  given  to 
a  man  to  take  out  of  town  without  drinking  or  looking 
behind  him.  In  this  way  the  evil  spirits  were  cast  out. 

The  leaves  strewn  on  the  courtyard  were  then 
changed,  while  the  priest  dressed  himself  in  his  plumed 
robes.  Next  the  Chacs  placed  white  cloths  on  the  heads 
of  the  children,  and  bid  them  confess  any  important 
sins  they  might  have  committed.  When  this  was  con- 
cluded, the  priest  blessed  the  children  and  sprinkled 
water  on  them  with  a  short,  carved  stick,  and  the  noble 
who  presided  over  the  ceremony  gave  each  child  nine 
sharp  taps  on  the  forehead  with  a  bone,  and  then 
rubbed  perfumed  water  on  their  faces  and  between 


Social  Life  of  the  Mayas  78 

their  fingers  and  toes.  Subsequently,  the  boys  were 
made  to  smell  a  bouquet  of  flowers  and  draw  some 
mouthfuls  of  smoke,  and  were  given  food  to  eat.  Offer- 
ings and  orations  were  made  to  the  gods,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  ceremony  gifts  were  made  by  the 
parents  to  the  participants,  and  a  great  feast  and 
drinking  orgy  was  held. 

Marriage  took  place  when  the  young  man  reached 
the  age  of  twenty.  Parents  usually  looked  out  for  a 
suitable  bride,  if  possible  in  the  same  district,  and  the 
services  of  professional  match-makers  were  invoked. 
When  a  suitable  girl  had  been  obtained,  a  present  was 
made  by  the  young  man's  father  to  the  bride's  parents, 
and  the  mother  in  addition  made  garments  for  her 
son  and  future  daughter-in-law.  The  wedding  took 
place  in  the  house  of  the  bride's  parents,  the  priest  as- 
sured himself  that  all  parties  were  willing,  and  a  feast 
was  then  held,  which  constituted  the  marriage  service. 
The  husband  lived  with  his  father-in-law  for  a  period 
of  five  or  six  years,  working  for  him.  The  wife  was 
responsible  for  preparing  food  and  drink  for  her  hus- 
band. Widows  and  widowers  remarried  with  little 
ceremony.  A  meal  taken  by  a  widower  in  the  house 
of  a  widow  was  all  that  was  required  to  make  the 
marriage  binding.  Polygamy  was  never  practised,  but 
desertion  and  divorce  were  very  common.  Marriage 
between  cousins  was  permitted,  but  marriage  with 
sisters-in-law  or  mother's  sisters  was  considered  very 
wrong. 

Apparently  there  was  no  punishment  for  deser- 
tion, which  frequently  occurred  even  when  there  were 
children  in  the  family.  A  man  convicted  of  adultery 
was  handed  over  to  the  injured  husband,  who  could 
either  forgive  him  or  kill  him.  In  the  latter  case  the 
husband  hurled  a  large  stone  down  onto  his  head  from 
a  height.  The  disgrace  and  infamy  with  which  she 
was  branded  was  considered  sufficient  punishment  for 


74  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

the  woman.  However,  on  the  whole,  the  women  were 
very  chaste  and  hard-working.  They  shared  with 
many  other  primitive  peoples  the  custom  of  avoiding 
men,  as  we  are  told  that  they  turned  their  backs  when 
they  met  a  man  by  chance,  and  the  same  occurred  when 
they  gave  food  or  drink  to  any  man.  Bishop  Landa 
tells  us  also  that  they  were  jealous,  and  although  usual- 
ly quiet,  if  provoked  they  flew  into  a  violent  temper. 
They  took  charge  of  the  education  of  their  children, 
and  punished  them  by  pinching  their  arms  and  ears,  or 
by  rubbing  a  species  of  stinging  pepper  (Capsicum) 
on  them.  Like  their  husbands,  they  were  fond  of 
getting  drunk,  but  these  orgies  were  held  in  private, 
and  no  men  attended;  similarly  they  ate  apart,  and 
never  shared  a  meal  with  their  husbands  or  any  other 
men. 

Death,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  was  very 
much  feared  by  the  Mayas.  On  the  death  of  a  person, 
the  relatives  showed  evident  signs  of  great  distress. 
By  day  they  wept  in  silence,  but  at  night  they  filled  the 
town  with  their  howls  and  cries  of  lament.  In  addition 
to  this  they  fasted  for  a  number  of  days.  In  the  mouth 
of  the  deceased  were  placed  grains  of  maize  and  the 
stone  money  they  used,  with  which  to  buy  provisions 
in  the  next  world.  Burials  took  place  either  in  the 
house  or  just  behind  it,  and  with  the  body  were  placed 
a  number  of  the  private  idols  of  the  deceased,  or  in 
the  case  of  a  priest  or  sorcerer,  his  books  or  his  medi- 
cal implements.  As  a  rule,  after  a  death  the  house  was 
deserted  by  its  inhabitants ;  however,  if  the  household 
was  large,  they  plucked  up  courage  to  continue  to 
occupy  it. 

The  nobility  were  cremated,  and  a  temple  was 
built  over  the  urn  in  which  the  ashes  were  deposited, 
or  the  ashes  were  placed  in  a  hollow  statue  of  earthen- 
ware. 


Social  Life  of  the  Mayas  75 

Another  interesting  form  of  disposal  of  the  dead 
was  practised  among  the  nobility.  Part  of  the  body 
was  burnt  and  placed  in  hollow  wooden  statuettes, 
which  had  an  opening  at  the  back  of  the  neck.  The 
corresponding  piece  of  skin  of  the  dead  man  was  re- 
moved and  stuck  over  the  aperture.  The  rest  of  the 
body  was  interred,  but  the  statuettes  were  kept  in  a 
place  of  honor  among  the  household  gods. 

The  Cocom,  one  of  the  ruling  families  of  Yucatan 
at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  possessed  a  special  form 
of  preservation.  The  deceased's  head  was  cut  off  and 
cooked,  and  all  the  flesh  removed.  The  skull  was  then 
sawn  in  half  from  top  to  bottom.  The  front  half  was 
subsequently  covered  with  wax,  which  was  modeled 
to  the  features  of  the  dead  man.  This  half  head  was 
then  placed  in  the  family  oratory  with  great  reverence, 
and  offerings  were  made  to  it  on  feast  days  and  other 
occasions  of  great  rejoicing,  so  that  the  soul  of  the 
deceased  might  lack  nothing  in  the  next  world. 

The  eldest  son  succeeded  his  father,  but  the 
younger  sons  were  held  in  great  respect  if  their  father 
had  belonged  to  the  nobility.  If  the  heir  was  a  minor, 
a  guardian  was  appointed  to  look  after  the  estates, 
and  any  defalcation  on  his  part  was  considered  a  very 
heinous  crime. 

The  large  stone  buildings  of  both  the  Old  and  the 
New  Empire  (Plates  VI,  IX  and  X)  were  undoubtedly 
for  the  most  part  religious  buildings.  The  nobility 
probably  occupied  smaller  stone  houses,  but  the  popu- 
lace as  a  whole  lived  in  thatched  houses  with  a  wooden 
framework.  These  were  covered  with  a  pent-roof,  the 
eaves  of  which  reached  down  to  the  ground.  A  wall 
with  several  doors  divided  the  front  half  of  the  house 
from  the  rear  half.  The  latter  was  the  sleeping  apart- 
ment. The  front  half  was  whitewashed,  and  often 
adorned  with  frescoes,  and  served  as  a  reception  room, 
although  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  open  in  front,  it 


76  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

partook  more  of  the  nature  of  a  veranda.  The  chief 
furniture  of  the  inner  room  was  supplied  by  the  beds, 
which  were  made  of  wood  with  cotton  coverings. 

The  common  people  had  the  task  of  building  the 
houses  of  the  nobility,  and  in  addition  had  to  work  on 
the  plantations  of  the  latter.  They  also  handed  over 
a  percentage  of  the  bag  if  they  went  out  hunting,  and 
a  share  of  the  salt  they  had  to  fetch,  often  from  con- 
siderable distances. 

Agriculture  was  the  chief  industry,  maize,  cacao, 
and  cotton  being  the  most  important  crops.  Each  fami- 
ly possessed  an  allotment  of  some  thirty-six  square 
yards.  Cooperation  was  extensively  practised,  families 
helping  one  another  in  sowing  and  harvesting.  In  ad- 
dition to  these  town  lots,  any  family  was  free  to  go 
farther  afield  and  take  up  a  piece  of  the  common  land. 
Bees  were  kept  for  their  honey,  and  the  turkey  had 
been  domesticated. 

Extensive  trade  was  carried  on  between  the  cities, 
and  long  journeys  were  often  made  with  this  object. 
Salt  in  many  parts  of  Yucatan  was  rare,  and  was  an 
important  article  of  commerce.  Bishop  Landa  informs 
us  that  a  big  trade  was  done  with  Tabasco  and  Uloa, 
salt,  slaves,  and  cloth  being  paid  for  in  cacao  and  stone 
money.  There  were  various  forms  of  currency,  of 
which  cacao  seed  was  the  most  important,  but  stone 
disks,  feathers,  red  shells,  and  copper  axe-blades  also 
circulated.  Credit  was  given,  and  loans  were  made 
without  usury. 

The  punishment  for  theft,  if  the  stolen  property 
could  not  be  returned,  was  slavery.  In  time  of  famine 
a  great  deal  of  theft  occurred,  and  as  a  result  there 
was  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  slaves. 

Maize  was  the  basis  of  the  principal  Maya  dishes. 
The  grain  was  softened  by  leaving  it  overnight  to 
soak  in  a  mixture  of  lime  and  water.  In  the  morning 
the  outer  coat  was  sufficiently  soft  to  be  easily  re- 


Social  Life  of  the  Mayas  T7 

moved,  and  the  kernel  was  then  ground  between  mill- 
stones. In  this  state  it  could  be  reduced  to  great  balls, 
and  preserved  for  several  months.  When  required,  a 
piece  was  removed  and  mixed  with  water  in  a  drinking 
gourd,  and  made  an  excellent  beverage.  Eaten,  it  made 
a  delicious  and  nourishing  dish.  Another  dish  was 
obtained  by  compressing  the  ground  maize,  and  the 
juice  thereby  exuded  was  curdled  by  heat;  it  was 
served  hot  the  following  day.  It  was  also  toasted  and 
served  with  chile  and  cacao. 

Margarine  was  manufactured  from  cacao  seeds, 
and  was  used  in  a  large  number  of  dishes.  Stews  of 
every  kind  were  made,  composed  of  venison,  fowl,  fish, 
or  vegetables.  Bread  was  usually  eaten  freshly  baked, 
as  maize  bread  when  stale  is  somewhat  unappetizing. 

An  alcoholic  beverage  was  made  of  a  fermented 
mixture  of  honey  and  water,  and  also  of  a  certain 
root,  possibly  of  the  yucca  family,  which  in  many  parts 
of  South  America  is  chewed  to  cause  fermentation  in 
the  same  way  that  the  well-known  kava  of  Oceania 
was  prepared. 

Banquets  were  very  frequent,  and  were  the  occa- 
sion for  friendly  rivalry  in  ostentation  and  hospitality. 
The  guests  to  a  banquet  had  at  some  future  date  to 
return  the  compliment,  unless  it  happened  to  be  a 
family  affair,  and  should  a  guest  die  before  he  had 
reciprocated  the  hospitality  shown  him,  the  duty  de- 
volved on  his  heirs.  A  good  host  would  spend  the  sav- 
ings of  months  of  hard  work  in  entertainment.  The 
guests  sat  at  small  tables  of  two  or  four  persons, 
women  of  course  being  rigorously  excluded.  Each 
guest  was  given  a  roast  bird,  bread,  and  cacao  to  drink. 
After  the  meal  the  cup-bearers  served  the  guests  with 
the  honey  wine  from  large  earthenware  jars,  until  they 
were  helpless,  when  their  wives  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  conducted  them  home.  Each  guest,  too,  was  pre- 
sented with  a  cloak,  a  small  stool,  and  a  beautiful  cup. 


78  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

The  Mayas,  however,  when  drunk  seem  to  have  been 
a  very  quarrelsome  lot,  as  we  are  told  trouble  often 
ensued  when  they  arrived  home  in  the  care  of  their 
good  wives.  It  was  no  uncommon  occurrence  for  the 
husband  to  burn  his  house  down,  and  brawls  were 
frequent.  Their  wives  also  partook  of  carousals  of 
their  own,  but  apparently  did  not  indulge  to  such  an 
extent  as  the  menfolk.  Visits  were  invariably  accom- 
panied by  an  exchange  of  presents. 

The  Mayas  were,  like  every  other  primitive  na- 
tion, extremely  fond  of  dancing,  and  nearly  every  fes- 
tivity whether  religious  or  social  was  the  occasion  of 
dancing.  One  of  the  favorite  dances  was  performed 
by  some  eight  hundred  men  carrjdng  small  banners. 
On  other  occasions  the  performers  formed  a  circle, 
and  two  of  the  number  danced  in  the  centre,  one  of 
them  with  a  bunch  of  reed  lances  in  the  hand;  the 
other  danced  squatting,  apparently  in  the  style  of  the 
Russian  folk  dances,  the  former,  with  all  liis  strength, 
hurled  his  lances  at  his  partner,  who  parried  them 
one  by  one  with  a  small  wooden  pole.  The  dances  were 
kept  up  from  morning  to  night,  food  being  brought 
to  the  dancers  on  the  spot.  Women  were  not  admitted 
to  these  dances,  and  it  was  considered  wrong  for  a 
man  to  dance  with  a  woman. 

The  musical  instruments  were  numerous.  There 
were  at  least  three  varieties  of  drums,  small  ones  beat- 
en by  hand,  others  of  hollow  wood  beaten  with  a  rub- 
ber-tipped gong.  They  gave  a  deep  sound  which  was 
audible  sometimes  at  a  distance  of  six  miles,  and  in 
addition  turtle-shells  were  beaten  with  the  palm  of  the 
hand.  Flutes  and  whistles  were  made  of  reed  or  bone, 
and  large  conch-shells  served  as  trumpets.  Trumpets 
made  of  hollowed  wood  which  had  a  large  calabash  as 
mouthpiece  were  also  used.  Rattles  too  were  employed. 
In  the  Dresden  Codex  several  of  these  instruments  are 
shown  in  one  scene. 


Social  Life  of  the  Mayas  79 

The  most  important  game  in  Yucatan  at  the  time 
of  the  conquest  was  the  ball-game  already  referred  to 
in  the  Popol  Vuh.  The  Tlaxtli,  to  give  the  game  its 
Mexican  name,  was  played  in  a  court  which  varied  in 
size,  but  might  be  as  much  as  150  yards  long  and  40 
yards  wide,  and  was  enclosed  by  high  walls,  so  as  to 
form  the  shape  of  two  T's  placed  base  to  base.  The 
game  was  played  with  a  rubber  ball,  the  object  being 
to  drive  it  through  a  ring  placed  high  up  on  each  wall 
half  way  between  the  opposing  sides.  The  game  could 
either  be  played  like  our  hand-ball,  hitting  the  ball 
with  the  gloved  hand,  or  where  skilled  players  were 
contesting  the  ball  was  hit  with  the  hips,  which  were 
protected  by  a  pad,  and  hands  were  not  allowed.  A 
trial  of  this  method  will  soon  convince  the  reader  how 
difficult  it  must  have  been  to  get  any  way  on  the  ball. 
The  game  was  intimately  bound  up  with  religion,  and 
the  courts  were  beautifully  sculptured  with  figures  of 
the  deities,  and  at  Chichen  Itza  a  temple  is  attached 
to  the  court.  No  Tlaxtli  courts  have  been  discovered  in 
the  area  of  the  Old  Empire,  and  the  three  or  four  that 
occur  in  Yucatan  are  sculptured  in  Mexican  style, 
especially  the  very  fine  one  at  Chichen  Itza.  We  can 
therefore  safely  conclude  that  the  ball  game  was  not 
played  by  the  early  Mayas,  but  was  introduced  by  the 
Mexicans  not  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards. 
This  assumption  is  further  supported  by  the  elaborate- 
ness of  the  court  at  Chichen  Itza,  which  is  known  to 
have  been  especially  under  Mexican  influence. 

The  men  wore  large  square  cotton  cloaks  over 
their  shoulders,  and  round  their  waists  long  cumber 
bands  of  the  same  material  about  a  handbreadth  wide, 
which  were  twisted  round  several  times.  The  ends, 
which  were  embroidered  with  feather  work  by  the 
women,  hung  down  in  front  and  behind.  Sandals  of 
hemp  or  deer  hide  served  as  footgear.  On  the  monu- 
ments of  the  Old  Empire  may  be  seen  examples  of  very 


80  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

elaborate  dress,  and  it  would  seem  that  in  early  times 
at  any  rate,  important  functionaries  wore  full  length 
dresses.  These,  in  many  cases,  exhibit  very  beautiful 
and  highly  complicated  patterns,  which  indicate  that 
a  very  high  level  of  skill  in  textile  embroidery  had  been 
reached  (Plates  I,  IV,  V).  A  kind  of  gauntlet  was 
worn  around  the  wrist  about  nine  inches  wide,  and  leg- 
lets  with  tassels  were  also  worn  above  the  knees.  Nose 
and  ear-plugs  were  very  popular,  and  necklaces  of 
worked  stone  or  copper  were  also  worn.  On  special 
occasions  the  men  painted  their  faces  and  bodies  red. 
Tattooing  was  very  common,  and  as  the  process  in- 
volved considerable  pain,  any  one  well  tattooed  was 
greatly  respected,  and  even  made  fun  of  his  compan- 
ions who  had  not  undergone  the  ordeal. 

Men  wore  their  hair  long.  On  the  top  of  the  head 
a  round  patch  was  burnt,  so  that  the  hair  there  should 
only  grow  short,  but  the  rest  of  the  hair  was  wound 
around  the  head,  the  tail  hanging  down  behind.  The 
priests  seem  to  have  invariably  worn  their  hair  matted 
with  the  blood  of  the  sacrificial  victims.  Teeth  filing 
was  practised  both  in  early  and  late  times,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  one  of  the  attributes  of  the 
sun  god  was  filed  teeth  (Fig.  3).  Sometimes  jade  was 
inlaid  in  the  teeth,  and  labrets  (lip  buttons)  were 
common.  An  extraordinary  variety  of  head-dresses 
existed,  brilliant  plumage  being  very  favored,  and  for 
ceremonial  occasions  animal  masks  were  much  used 
(Fig.  11). 

The  women  of  the  Campeche  and  Bakhalal  areas 
wore  a  skirt,  and  covered  their  breasts  with  a  cloth,  but 
in  the  rest  of  Yucatan  the  only  garment  worn  by  the 
women  was  a  kind  of  sack  open  at  both  sides,  which 
formed  a  skirt,  and  was  kept  in  position  by  being  tight- 
waisted.  From  the  waist  upward  they  tattooed  their 
bodies  with  the  exception  of  the  breasts,  and  wore  ear 
ornaments  and  nose  rings  of  amber.  Teeth  were  filed 


Social  Life  of  the  Mayas 


81 


down  by  an  old  woman  with  hard  stone  and  water,  and 
the  effect  was  to  give  the  teeth  the  appearance  of  being 
a  saw.  They  also  anointed  themselves  with  a  red  prep- 
aration like  their  husbands,  and  in  addition  to  this 
perfumed  colored  unguents  were  stamped  on  with  spe- 
cial designs  and  lasted  a  number  of  days. 

Women's  hair  was  dressed  in  a  number  of  different 
ways;  some  parted  it  in  the  middle,  others  plaited  it. 


Fig.  n. 

Warrior  from  a  Maya  Carving  on  a  Shell  Found  at  Tula. 
In  Field  Museum  (Hall  8.  Case  14). 

Young  girls  wore  it  in  four  or  two  plaits,  and  mothers 
were  particularly  careful  with  their  daughter's  hair 
before  marriage.  Cogolludo  tells  us  that  a  prisoner 
whose  guilt  was  not  definitely  proved  was  not  acquitted, 
but  had  his  long  hair  cut  short,  which  was  considered 
a  great  insult. 

The  Mayas  were  very  superstitious,  and  magic 
played  a  large  part  in  their  lives.  Needless  to  say,  they 
believed  in  and  interpreted  their  dreams.  If  a  traveller 


82  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

feared  that  he  might  not  reach  his  destination  until 
after  dark,  he  placed  a  stone  in  a  tree,  or  plucked  out 
his  eyebrows  and  blew  them  toward  the  sun.  These 
actions  were  believed  to  cause  the  sun  to  travel  more 
slowly  or  even  to  stop,  and  so  permit  the  traveller  to 
reach  his  destination  before  dark.  Eclipses  of  the  sun 
and  moon  were  very  much  feared,  and  apparently  the 
Mayas  hoped  to  avoid  calamity  by  making  as  much 
noise  as  possible,  as  on  such  occasion  they  beat  their 
tables,  doors,  and  seats,  and  pinched  the  dogs  to  make 
them  howl.  The  eclipse  of  the  moon  was  believed  to  be 
due  to  its  having  been  bitten  by  a  species  of  ant,  called 
xulab.  However,  as  has  already  been  shown,  the  priests 
were  well  aware  of  the  time  when  an  eclipse  was  to 
take  place,  but  probably  it  suited  them  that  the  popu- 
lace should  be  kept  in  ignorance. 

A  belief  in  witches  was  general.  Among  the  ac- 
complishments attributed  to  them  was  that  of  being 
able  to  cause  flowers  to  open  before  their  time,  and  any 
one  who  was  unfortunate  enough  to  smell  a  flower  so 
treated,  was  driven  mad.  Sorcerers,  on  the  other  hand, 
gave  exhibitions  of  snake  charming. 

A  traveller  stumbling  against  a  large  stone,  would 
reverence  it,  and  place  a  branch  upon  it,  and  as  a  pre- 
ventative of  tiredness  he  rubbed  his  knees  with  an- 
other. 

During  the  unlucky  days  of  Uayeb,  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  no  one  ventured  out  of  doors,  except  in  con- 
nection with  the  festivities  that  were  to  usher  in  the 
New  Year. 

Just  as  in  Europe  to-day,  after  some  fifteen  cen- 
turies of  Christianity,  superstition  still  lingers  on,  and 
in  the  more  remote  districts  a  belief  in  the  bewitching 
powers  of  some  feared  member  of  the  community  yet 
exists,  so  too  among  the  modern  civilized  Mayas  with 
their  clothes  imported  from  London  or  New  York  and 
their  Parisian  fashions  the  old  beliefs  die  hard, — magi- 


Social  Lite  op  the  Mayas  83 

cal  beliefs  probably  thousands  of  years  older  than  the 
worship  of  Itzamna,  Chac,  or  Kinich  Ahau,  but  which 
possibly  will  even  outlive  Christianity.  For  just  as  the 
things  we  learn  in  our  earliest  youth  are  the  things  we 
longest  remember,  so  the  beliefs  of  our  ancestors  when 
the  world  was  young  are  likely  to  be  the  last  we  shall 
discard. 


WARFARE,  ART,  AND  ARCHITECTURE 

The  Mayas  of  the  Late  Empire  were  a  highly  war- 
like nation,  as  the  Spaniards  found  to  their  cost.  In 
fact  the  subjugation  of  the  whole  peninsula  was  not 
accomplished  until  toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Even  then  there  were  one  or  two  important 
tribes  such  as  the  Lacondones  in  the  Usamacinta  River 
area,  and  the  Santa  Cruz  tribe  around  Bakhalal  who 
were  never  properly  subdued. 

The  armies  were  under  a  dual  command.  One 
general  held  the  position  for  life  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son;  the  other  who  was  known  as  Nacon  held  the 
position  for  three  years  only,  and  combined  his  duties 
as  general  with  those  of  high  priest  of  the  army.  Dur- 
ing these  three  years  he  had  to  avoid  all  women  and 
abstain  from  all  meat  and  intoxicants.  His  followers, 
however,  held  him  in  very  high  esteem,  and  supplied 
him  with  fish  and  iguanos,  which  apparently  were  not 
considered  meat. 

The  backbone  of  the  army  was  a  militia  force 
known  as  Holcanes,  who  in  peace  time  carried  on  their 
ordinary  civil  occupations,  but  on  the  outbreak  of  war 
were  immediately  called  to  the  colors.  They  were  given 
meagre  pay  by  the  two  generals  from  their  own  purses, 
and  should  that  not  be  sufficient,  the  people  contributed 
the  balance.  The  people  too  were  responsible  for  the 
food  supply,  which  the  soldiers'  wives  cooked. 

When  the  war  was  very  important,  the  whole 
manhood  of  the  nation  was  called  to  arms.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war,  Landa  informs  us,  the  demobilized 
soldiers  became  a  thorough  nuisance  to  their  fellow 
townsmen,  as  they  expected  to  be  feted  and  waited 
upon  by  those  that  had  stayed  at  home, — a  state  of 
affairs  not  unknown  in  modern  society. 

84 


Warfare,  Art,  and  Architecture 


85 


86  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

In  the  time  of  the  Late  Empire  the  soldiers  were 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  but  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  these  were  introduced  by  the  immigrants 
from  Mexico,  and  that  in  the  Old  Empire  they  were  un- 
known to  the  Mayas,  who  at  that  time  seem  to  have 
been  a  peaceable  nation. 

The  arrows  were  tipped  with  imported  obsidian 
or  fish  bones.  The  bows  were  made  of  a  very  strong 
wood,  with  little  curvature,  and  nearly  as  tall  as  a  man. 
The  arrows  were  made  of  reed,  and  the  obsidian  head 
was  wedged  into  a  piece  of  thin,  hard  wood,  which  was 
attached  to  the  reed  shaft.  Poison  was  never  employed. 
Copper  axes  hafted  in  wood  were  also  employed,  as 
well  as  short  lances,  and  wooden  swords  studded  With 
obsidian  blades,  which  were  wielded  with  both  hands. 
Spear  throwers  are  represented  at  Chichen  Itza.  De- 
fensive armor  consisted  of  round  shields  of  wicker- 
work  with  deer-hide  coverings.  On  the  monuments  of 
the  Old  Empire  square  shields  are  depicted,  and  at 
Chichen  Itza  Mexican  frescoes  show  long,  flexible 
shields. 

Cotton  quilts  were  also  worn,  and  contained  layers 
of  salt.  They  reached  down  to  the  knee,  and  as  the 
name  used  is  a  Mexican  one,  and  such  quilts  were 
known  in  Mexico,  it  seems  likely  that  they  too  were 
introduced  from  the  north.  Although  cumbersome, 
they  formed  an  efficient  protection  against  spears  or 
arrows. 

Officers  of  rank  wore  a  kind  of  wooden  helmet 
and  skins  of  pumas  and  jaguars. 

Fortifications,  with  the  exception  of  palisades, 
were  unknown,  and  night  attacks  were  never  indulged 
in.  War  paint  was,  however,  used  to  frighten  the 
enemy,  and  a  great  deal  of  energy  was  wasted  in  shout- 
ing and  hissing.  After  the  enemy  had  been  defeated, 
the  conquerors  removed  the  jawbones  of  the  van- 
quished dead,  and  wore  them  on  their  arms.    Impor- 


Warfare,  Art,  and  Architecture  87 

tant  prisoners,  who  were  not  in  any  way  disfigured, 
were  offered  up  in  sacrifice,  and  subsequently  the 
body  was  ceremonially  eaten  by  the  captor  and  his 
friends.   Prisoners  of  the  rank  and  file  were  enslaved. 

The  Spanish  cavalry,  of  course,  gave  a  tremendous 
advantage  to  the  conquistadores.  An  account  is  given 
of  one  battle,  in  the  course  of  which  the  Indians  en- 
deavored to  seize  the  horses  by  the  legs.  Cortez,  dur- 
ing his  march  across  Guatemala  to  Honduras,  left  be- 
hind him  a  lame  horse,  which  was  looked  after  by  the 
Itza  at  Peten,  but  probably  owing  to  the  change  of  diet 
and  treatment  the  horse  died.  The  Spanish  friars,  who 
visited  Peten  in  the  seventeenth  century,  were  horrified 
to  find  that  the  Indians  were  worshipping  an  image  of 
this  very  horse  and  considered  it  one  of  their  most 
important  gods. 

The  first  horses  seen  by  the  Mayas  were  those 
used  by  the  cavalry.  Not  disassociating  the  horses 
from  their  riders,  the  Mayas  imagined  the  firing  of 
the  arquebuses  of  the  Spaniards  was  a  manifesta- 
tion of  the  wrath  of  this  strange  animal.  The  horse 
was  therefore  considered  to  be  able  to  deal  out 
thunder,  lightning,  and  thunderbolts  that  brought  de- 
struction in  their  path.  The  association  of  the  horse 
with  the  deities  of  thunder  and  lightning  was  there- 
fore a  natural  one.  The  horse  was  offered  meat, 
turkeys,  and  floral  wreaths,  and  not  unnaturally  died 
of  hunger. 

Naval  warfare  was  apparently  never  of  very  great 
importance.  The  Mayas  had  large  sailing-canoes  re- 
ported capable  of  holding  up  to  forty  men.  A  passage 
in  Cogolludo  mentions  double  canoes,  but  there  is,  of 
course,  a  possibility  they  may  have  been  introduced  by 
the  Spaniards,  though  that  is  hardly  likely,  as  he  calls 
the  boat  "una  falca,"  and  explains  that  by  that  is 
meant  two  canoes  tied  together.  The  crew  consisted  of 


88  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

fourteen  Indians,  and  a  sail  was  hoisted.  The  region 
where  this  double  canoe  was  used  was  that  of  Bakhalal. 

There  were  two  exceptions  to  the  general  degen- 
eracy that  set  in  when  the  Mayas,  leaving  Guatemala, 
established  the  New  Empire  in  Yucatan, — the  sciences 
of  warfare  and  architecture. 

Throughout  the  New  World  the  true  architectural 
arch  was  unknown  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Columbus, 
and  its  absence  seriously  hampered  the  style,  size,  and 
beauty  of  all  the  Maya  buildings.  There  are  only  two 
substitutes  for  the  arch  known  to  mankind, — ^the  false 
or  corbelled  arch  (Plate  VII  and  X) ,  and  constructions 
whose  walls  and  pillars  are  sufficiently  close  together  to 
enable  them  to  be  spanned  by  a  single  beam  or  slab  of 
stone.  The  corbelled  arch  was  well  known  to  the  Old 
World,  and  it  was  adopted  by  several  of  the  ancient 
civilizations,  notably  at  Mycenae,  and  even  in  bronze- 
age  tombs  of  Ireland.  The  false  arch  may  be  compared 
to  two  inverted  staircases,  which  approach  close 
enough  to  be  spanned  by  a  single  slab,  each  step  of  the 
staircase  projecting  slightly  beyond  the  step  below  it. 
Unlike  the  true  arch  each  brick  or  stone  of  which  is 
self-supporting,  the  false  arch  is  composed  of  a  number 
of  steps,  whose  weight  has  to  be  borne  by  the  lower 
steps.  To  counterbalance  this  weight  great  massive- 
ness  is  required  on  the  edge  of  the  arch ;  generally  as 
much  breadth  of  counterweight  is  required  as  the 
breadth  of  the  arch,  which  in  its  turn  is  determined 
by  the  height  of  the  arch ;  thus  an  arch  ten  feet  wide 
will  require  some  five  feet  of  wall  on  each  side,  so  it 
will  be  seen  that  a  room  built  on  these  lines  will  con- 
tain as  much  wall  as  floor  space.  There  was,  however, 
no  limit  to  the  length  of  such  a  room.  Holmes  has  re- 
marked that  in  the  case  of  the  "Palacio  del  Gober- 
nador"  at  Uxmal,  a  very  well-known  Maya  building, 
there  is  an  area  of  more  than  200,000  cubic  feet  of 
solid    masonry,    whereas    the    chamber    space    only 


Warfare,  Art,  and  Architecture  89 

amounts  to  110,000  cubic  feet;  and,  if  the  substructure 
be  taken  into  account,  the  masonry  occupies  forty 
times  more  space  than  the  chamber.  From  these  fig- 
ures it  can  be  realized  what  an  enormous  waste  of  en- 
ergy and  masonry  was  required  to  construct  a  Maya 
edifice. 

The  walls  of  Maya  buildings  were  as  a  rule  faced 
with  cut  stone  dressed  on  the  outside,  and  the  cone  was 
filled  with  a  very  strong  mixture  of  mortar,  and  rubble. 
Windows  were  very  rare,  but  in  many  buildings  doors 
are  very  frequent  and  no  doubt  took  the  place  of  win- 
dows. In  some  cases  they  are  set  so  closely  together 
that  the  portions  of  wall  between  them  are  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes  converted  into  pillars. 

Occasionally  buildings  are  met  with  of  two  or 
even  three  stories,  but  they  are  necessarily  somewhat 
clumsy,  and  have  a  very  heavy  appearance.  In  many 
cases  a  mound  was  raised  behind  the  building,  and  on 
that  the  second  story  was  erected,  giving  the  appear- 
ance of  a  two-storied  house,  whereas  in  actual  fact  each 
story  was  an  entirely  separate  building. 

On  the  top  of  the  roof  was  placed  in  a  large  num- 
ber of  Maya  cities  a  strange  ornament  known  as  a 
roof -comb,  which  was  merely  a  steep  and  narrow  false 
arch  running  nearly  the  length  of  the  building,  though 
in  the  cities  of  the  New  Empire  it  merely  consists, 
where  it  occurs,  of  a  single  ornamented  wall.  A  flying 
facade  replaces  it  in  some  buildings.  The  great  height 
of  the  corbelled  arch  gives  a  very  high  entablature,, 
which  lends  itself  to  decoration,  of  which  the  Mayas 
took  full  advantage. 

In  Yucatan  the  decoration  was  much  more  pro- 
lific than  in  the  Old  Empire.  Whereas  the  latter  was 
characterized  by  naturalistic  art,  the  New  Empire  was 
entirely  under  the  influence  of  geometrical  design 
(Plates  VIII-X),  which  bears  some  resemblance  to 
the   Zapotec   art   of   Mitla.     Conventionalized   snake 


90  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

masks  are  the  motif  of  most  of  the  Yucatan  decora- 
tions. 

Important  buildings  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New 
Empires  were  placed  upon  large  mounds  or  pyramids, 
which  were  often  of  a  considerable  height  (Plate  VI). 
The  pyramids  invariably  possess  a  stairway  on  one 
face,  and  in  many  cases  there  are  further  subsidiary 
stairways  on  the  other  faces.  Pyramids  without  tem- 
ples on  the  summit  are  rare,  though  they  do  occur  at 
one  or  two  cities.  The  same  applies  to  mounds,  in 
which  case  those  that  possess  no  buildings  are  probably 
burial  mounds.  Pyramids  were  constructed  of  earth 
and  rubble,  and  were  faced  with  dressed  stone  and 
stucco.  The  sides,  however,  were  not  by  any  means 
always  straight,  being  often  curved,  and  the  corners 
were  occasionally  rounded  off.  The  stairways  were 
usually  of  considerable  breadth.  The  House  of  the 
Dwarf  at  Uxmal,  for  example,  is  seventy-two  feet  long, 
but  only  twelve  feet  deep,  and  stands  at  a  height  of 
close  on  ninety  feet.  To  reach  it  one  ascends  a  stair- 
way consisting  of  ninety  steps,  the  width  of  which  is 
no  less  than  seventy  feet.  In  some  instances,  notably 
at  Copan  and  Naranjo,  the  balustrades  and  steps  were 
carved  with  hieroglyphs  showing  the  period  of  con- 
struction and  other  important  dates. 

In  the  Old  Empire,  however,  the  Mayas  showed 
their  greatest  art  and  skill  in  the  wonderful  sculptur- 
ing of  the  stelse  and  lintels,  with  which  they  marked 
the  passage  of  time  (Plates  I-V) .  In  early  times  raised 
at  irregular  intervals,  quite  early  the  custom  was 
adopted  of  erecting  one  to  commemorate  the  passage 
of  each  Hotun,  that  is  a  period  of  five  years. 

Dr.  Spinden  in  "A  Study  of  Maya  Art"  was  the 
first  to  make  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  evolution 
of  the  stelse,  which  enabled  him  to  arrange  them  in 
chronological  order  by  a  close  study  of  their  style, 
without  any  reference  to  the  actual  dates  they  revealed. 


Warfare,  Art,  and  Architectxjrb  91 

He  has  shown  how  the  low  relief  hieroglyphs  gradu- 
ally gave  way  to  deep  relief,  and  how  the  proportions 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  bodies,  carved  on  the 
faces,  and  often  on  the  backs  of  the  stone,  slowly  al- 
tered. 

The  earliest  stelae  were  possibly  of  wood;  then 
contemporaneously  with  the  earliest  carved  examples 
existed  a  large  number  of  plain  stone  stelae,  which 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  had  painted  on  their 
surfaces  the  dates  they  commemorated. 

A  considerable  number  of  the  hieroglyphs  have 
not  yet  been  determined.  It  would  not  be  unreasonable 
to  conjecture  that  some  of  these  may  represent  im- 
portant historical  events  that  took  place  in  the  period 
between  the  dedication  of  the  previous  stelae  and  the 
erection  of  the  next  one.  It  is  certainly  true  that  all 
the  hierogljrphs  at  present  known  are  connected  with 
the  calendar,  astronomy,  or  religion. 

The  most  beautiful  specimens  were  erected  at  the 
close  of  the  ninth  cycle,  Quirigua  leading  the  way  with 
some  amazingly  beautiful  and  lofty  stelae,  showing 
among  other  things  a  very  high  skill  indeed  in  the 
transference  of  feather  designs  to  stone  (Plate  II). 
Typical  of  this  period  and  this  city  are  the  weird  and 
huge  masses  of  stone  carved  into  the  shape  of  monster 
animals,  which  carry  dates  on  their  sides  or  faces, 
and  so  merely  replace  the  more  conventional  upright 
stelae.  In  many  cases  altars  are  found  situated  in  front 
of  the  stelae,  often  bearing  the  same  date.  Sometimes 
the  stelae  are  scattered  haphazard  about  the  cities,  just 
as  public  statues  may  be  found  in  any  square  of  a 
modern  city.  In  other  cases  they  have  been  erected  on 
a  definite  spot  before  some  staircase  or  temple  en- 
trance. 

The  Mayas,  like  the  ancient  Greeks,  seem  to  have 
painted  all  their  statuary.  Despite  all  that  can  be  said 
against  such  a  practice,  no  doubt  it  helped  to  elucidate 


92  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  often  extremely  complicated  designs,  with  which 
the  Mayas  delighted  in  covering  any  bare  space.  The 
only  exception  to  this  tendency  for  overembroidery  is 
supplied  by  some  of  the  tablets  at  Palenque  (Plate  I). 
Looking  at  the  beautiful  lines  of  the  figures  thus  re- 
vealed, one  cannot  help  wishing  the  Maya  artist  had 
always  striven  after  more  simplicity. 

The  pottery  finds  from  the  Maya  district  are  not, 
in  comparison  with  the  other  sides  of  the  civilization, 
extensive.  Until  more  cemetery  excavations  have  been 
undertaken,  it  will  be  impossible  to  work  out  a  series 
based  on  chronology  and  locality.  However,  some  of 
the  examples  already  encountered  show  very  great 
beauty,  and  give  promise  of  rich  discoveries  yet  to 
come,  which  should  stimulate  workers  in  the  Maya 
field  to  greater  efforts  along  these  lines.  In  Crete  and 
other  countries  of  the  Old  World  it  is  possible  to  date 
many  sites  by  an  examination  of  the  associated  pot- 
tery, but  such  is  not  the  case  in  the  Maya  domain.  Such 
pottery  as  has  been  found,  naturally,  varies  in  beauty 
and  shape  according  to  the  original  usage  to  which  it 
was  put.  Pots  that  were  manufactured  for  every-day 
household  use  are  obviously  roughly  finished  and  usu- 
ally undecorated.  Ceremonial  objects  were  often  beau- 
tifully painted  and  decorated  with  glyphs.  Slip  was 
very  frequently  employed,  and  not  uncommonly  de- 
signs were  engraved  on  it  (Fig.  12).  Relief  ornamen- 
tation was  much  favored,  animals  and  birds  being 
often  modeled. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  funerary  figurines  have 
been  unearthed  by  Dr.  Gann  in  British  Honduras,  ap- 
parently of  a  very  late  period.  They  are,  however,  of 
a  very  poor  quality,  and  are  excellent  examples  of  the 
marked  degeneracy  that  set  in  shortly  before  the  Span- 
ish conquest.  Figurines  of  the  Early  Empire  display  a 
marked  similarity  to  those  obtaining  farther  north  in 


Warfare,  Art,  and  Architecture  93 

Mexico  at  a  later  stage,  and  probably  were  the  origi- 
nals of  many  of  the  northern  examples. 

Painted  frescoes  are  necessarily  rare.  The  cli- 
matic conditions  of  Central  America  militate  against 
their  survival.  At  Chichen  Itza,  however,  some  fine 
examples  in  Toltec  style  exist  (Plate  VII),  and  others 
in  a  different  style  were  discovered  by  Dr.  Gann  at 
Santa  Rita  in  British  Honduras.  In  the  latter  case 
they  are  found  in  connection  with  Maya  calendar- 
dates,  and  it  would  seem  they  represent  the  passage  of 
a  Katun  (period  of  twenty  years)  and  possibly  the 
gods  who  presided  over  each  of  the  twenty  years.  This, 
however,  can  never  be  satisfactorily  proved  owing  to 
the  bad  state  of  preservation  in  which  they  were  en- 
countered. 


THE  MAYA  COLLECTION  OF  FIELD  MUSEUM 

Unfortunately  the  Maya  collection  of  Field 
Museum  is  not  extensive,  although  the  civilizations  of 
Middle  America,  the  Aztec,  Toltec,  and  Archaic  are 
well  represented. 

Down  the  centre  of  Hall  8  are  a  number  of  casts 
from  different  Maya  centres  both  of  the  Old  and  New 
Empires. 

The  first  cast  is  of  an  inscribed  stele  or  column 
found  at  Uxmal.  Although  none  of  the  inscription  is 
translatable,  several  of  the  glyphs  are  recognizable. 

Beyond  is  a  cast  of  the  Chac-mool  figure  from 
Chichen  Itza.  This  was  excavated  by  M.  Le  Plongeon. 
The  original  is  now  in  the  National  Museum  of  Mexico 
City.  A  number  of  these  figures  have  been  found  in 
Chichen  Itza;  they  occur  sporadically  from  Mexico  to 
San  Salvador.  They  are  believed  to  represent  drinking 
gods.  The  basin  in  the  centre  was  probably  for  offer- 
ings. The  name  Chac-mool  ("tiger")  was  conferred 
on  this  figure  by  Le  Plongeon,  who  imagined  it  repre- 
sented a  Maya  prince  of  that  name ;  but  although  it  is 
now  well  known  that  such  is  not  the  case,  the  name  is 
still  used  to  describe  this  type  of  statue. 

Next  is  a  cast  of  Altar  Q  from  Copan.  The  top  of 
this  altar  is  covered  with  hieroglyphs,  to  read  which 
it  is  necessary  to  face  westward.  All  four  sides  of  the 
altar  are  carved  in  bold  high  relief  with  sixteen  human 
figures  seated  cross-legged.  All  of  the  priests  or  kings 
or  whomever  they  may  represent  wear  turbans,  and 
have  their  ears  and  noses  adorned  with  ornaments. 
All  carry  large  breastplates  of  what  was  probably 
jade,  many  of  them  being  in  the  shape  of  large  and 
elaborate  masks.  The  figures  all  face  toward  two  hiero- 
glyphs placed  one  below  the  other,  on  the  west  side, — 
the  date  6  Caban  10  Mol.  This  date  is  found  very  fre- 

94 


The  Maya  Collection  of  Field  Museum  95 

quently  at  Copan  and  must  have  been  of  great  im- 
portance. Its  position  in  the  long  count  is  9-16-12-5-17, 
and  its  equivalent  in  the  Gregorian  calendar  is  July  1st, 

On  the  upper  surface  the  inscription  opens 
with  the  calendar  round  date  Al.Bl.  The  vertical 
columns  are  lettered  ABC,  etc.,  from  left  to  right. 
The  horizontal  columns  are  numbered  1,  2,  3',  etc. 
Thus  the  top  left-hand  glyph  is  Al,  and  the  bottom 
right-hand  glyph  is  F6.  5  Caban  15  Yaxkin,  June 
22d,  A.D.  738,  midsummer  day,  the  next  date  8  Ahau 
18  Yaxkin  is  3  days  later  (B3A4).  A6  is  a  dis- 
tance number  of  7  Uinals  and  13  Kins  (153  days)  to 
be  added  to  the  last  date.  Actually  the  inscription 
reads  7  Uinals  and  12  Kins,  the  Kin  co-efficient  con- 
sisting of  two  bars  and  two  dots  with  a  cross  between. 
This  is  a  mistake  made  by  the  original  sculptor;  the 
correct  distance  number  leads  to  5  Ben  11  Muan  shown 
in  C1,D1.  17  Katuns  are  expressed  in  C6,  and  D6  and 
El,  the  calendar  round  date  6  Ahau  13  Kayab,  which 
is  the  ending  of  the  first  hotun  (5  tun  period)  after  the 
beginning  of  Katun  17,  written  in  the  long  count  9-17- 
5-0-0  (December  28th,  A.D.  775).  In  F3  there  is  the 
glyph  for  the  observation  of  the  sun  at  the  horizon. 
Possibly  this  is  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
important  hotun  date  is  only  a  few  days  off  the  winter 
solstice.  In  ES  there  is  another  distance  number  of  3 
Uinals  and  4  Kins  reaching  5  Kan  12  Uo  March  2nd, 
776.  Here  again  there  is  a  mistake:  the  inscription 
actually  reads  13  Uo.  Morley  has  suggested  that  pos- 
sibly the  sculptor  got  his  instructions  mixed,  carving 
12  Kins  where  13  were  required,  and  below  13  Uo 
where  12  was  required. 

The  next  monument  is  a  cast  of  stele  K  from  Qui- 
rigua.  This  stele  is  considerably  smaller  than  the  ma- 
jority of  stelae  from  this  city.  Both  the  front  and  back 
are  carved  in  a  squat  figure  with  a  disproportionately 
large  head.   In  one  case  the  head  is  surmounted  -by  a 


96  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

mask;  in  the  other  case,  two  masks.  The  belt  which 
hangs  down  is  very  elaborate  as  too  are  the  sandals. 
The  inscription  on  the  north  side  opens  with  the  in- 
troductory sign  above  which  is  placed  the  hieroglyph 
for  the  planet  Venus.  There  follows  the  long  count 
date  9-18-5-0-0  3  Ahau  3  Yax,  the  3  Yax  being  omitted, 
the  Gregorian  equivalent  of  this  date  being  July  24th, 
A.D.  805,  In  A6  there  is  a  distance  number  of  10  Uinals 
and  10  Kins  (210  days)  which  substracted  from  the 
initial  series  date  gives  the  date  1  Oc  18  Kayab,  Decem- 
ber 26th,  A.D.  804.  This  date  is  found  in  B6  right  half 
and  A7  left  half.  The  other  half  of  A7  is  occupied  by 
a  glyph  which  is  believed  to  be  another  symbol  for 
Venus.  This  date  actually  marks  the  completion  of 
three-quarters  of  a  Venus  year,  and  is  at  the  same 
time  within  four  or  five  days  of  the  winter  solstice. 
The  inscription  on  the  south  side  is  somewhat  defaced ; 
in  A4,  however,  is  repeated  the  date  3  Ahau  3  Yax 
which  it  will  be  remembered  was  the  terminal  date  of 
the  initial  series. 

The  following  cast  is  that  of  Altar  G  at  Copan. 
The  altar  represents  a  double-headed  feathered  ser- 
pent. From  the  open  jaws  at  both  ends  protrudes  the 
upper  half  of  a  human  figure.  The  lower  jaws  at  the 
large  end  display  prominently  the  bleached  jawbone, 
a  sjrmbol  of  death.  Both  ends  illustrate  well  the  very 
elaborate  treatment  employed  by  the  Mayas  to  depict 
the  serpent's  jaws.  The  upper  jaw  is  invariably  elon- 
gated out  of  all  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  body ;  the 
lower  jaw  is  usually  of  normal  size.  The  upper  jaw 
at  the  east  end  of  this  monument  measures  no  less 
than  three  feet,  whereas  the  lower  jaw  reaches  barely 
six  inches  in  depth.  The  fangs  and  teeth  are  very 
prominent.  The  west  head  displays  prominently  the 
Venus  sign.  The  inscription  opens  with  the  calendar 
round  date  10  Ahau  8  Zac.  This  almost  certainly  occu- 
pied* the  long  count  position  9-18-10-0-0,  and  corre- 


The  Maya  Collection  of  Field  Museum  97 

sponded  to  the  Gregorian  date  August  20th,  A.D.  800. 
The  connection  with  Venus  is  not  very  clear.  Possibly 
the  fact  that  10  Ahau  was  also  the  date  of  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  Venus  calendar  almost  nine  hundred  years 
earlier  was  the  reason  why  this  monument  carries  the 
Venus  sign. 

Beyond  this  is  placed  the  cast  of  Altar  0,  also 
from  Copan.  Whereas  Altar  G  represented  a  double- 
headed  feathered  serpent,  the  front  of  this  altar  is  in 
the  form  of  a  single-headed  feathered  serpent.  The 
treatment  of  the  elongated  jaw  of  the  serpent  is  the 
same.  The  back  of  the  altar  shows  the  double-headed 
feathered  monster  this  time  equipped -with  legs.  One 
end  of  the  altar  has  a  representation  of  a  frog  and  a 
fish,  the  other  end  has  two  human  figures  and  a  fish. 
There  is  no  date  on  this  monument,  but  it  probably 
dates  from  about  the  ninth  century  A.D. 

The  next  cast  is  that  of  Altar  U  from  Copan. 
The  front  (west  face)  is  carved  in  the  form  of  a  gro- 
tesque face,  probably  that  of  a  conventionalized  snake. 
On  each  side  are  represented  serpents  in  whose  jaws 
is  seated  in  each  case  a  human  figure.  The  back  and 
top  are  covered  with  a  hieroglyphic  inscription.  The 
inscription  opens  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  top 
with  a  new  year  date  written  2  Caban  0  Pop.  This  is 
a  mistake  for  3  Caban.  This  date  corresponds  to  Feb- 
ruary 10th,  A.D.  741.  Then  follow  a  number  of  other 
dates  including  at  the  top  left-hand  corner  of  the  side 
the  date  6  Caban  10  Mol, — the  date  most  frequently 
recorded  at  Copan.  This  corresponds  to  July  1st,  A.D. 
763.  The  exact  significance  of  this  date  can  only  be 
surmised.  Possibly  it  marked  some  important  politi- 
cal event  in  the  history  of  Copan. 

Beyond  this  is  a  cast  of  stele  1,  also  from  Copan. 
The  front  of  this  stele  represents  a  full-length  figure. 
Above  the  head  is  an  elaborate  mask  with  the  four- 
leaf  hieroglyph  symbol  of  the  sun.    On  each  edge  of 


98  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  front  and  level  with  the  forehead  are  small  tur- 
baned  figures.  In  the  folded  arms  of  the  figure  rests 
the  body  of  a  double-headed  snake,  from  whose  jaws 
peer  forth  two  heads,  which,  judging  by  their  filed 
teeth,  represent  the  sun  god.  The  snake's  body  and 
heads  are  marked  prominently  with  the  symbols  of 
death.  No  flesh  is  shown,  merely  the  bare  spinal  cord 
and  skull.  An  elaborate  band  girdles  the  waist,  and 
from  the  ankle  bands  hang  naturalistic  snakes. 

The  back  of  the  monument  is  occupied  by  a  very 
plain  initial  series.  First  comes  the  large-sized  intro- 
ductory glyph  followed  by  9  Cycles  12  Katuns  3  Tuns 
14  Uinals  and  0  Kins.  In  B5  is  the  day  5  Ahau.  The 
number  5  is  represented  by  the  head  variant  for  5 
(see  Fig.  6),  the  Ahau  sign  is  a  not  unusual  variant. 
In  A7  the  glyph  expresses  that  on  this  date  four  com- 
plete moons  had  passed  since  the  last  complete  lunar 
period.  The  "month"  glyph  which  should  be  at  A8  is 
unfortunately  obliterated,  but  should  be  8  Uo.  This 
date  corresponds  to  March  22d,  A.D.  676, — an  impor- 
tant date  as  it  is  within  a  day  or  so  of  the  spring  equi- 
nox, and  is  at  the  same  time  the  day  of  a  new  moon 
and  the  day  Ahau.  Both  sides  of  the  monument,  more- 
over, are  carved  with  inscriptions  containing  two  or 
three  dates  of  little  interest  to  the  general  public. 

The  following  monument  is  a  cast  of  Altar  D  from 
Copan.  Over  the  top  is  stretched  a  grotesque  monster 
that  appears  to  represent  a  frog.  The  front  side  is 
carved  with  a  large,  double-headed  dragon  monster. 
From  one  head  protrudes  a  human  face.  The  back  and 
the  remaining  side  are  occupied  by  full  figure  glyphs ; 
that  is,  the  hieroglyphs  instead  of  representing  merely 
faces  show  the  full  bodies.  The  inscription  opens  with 
the  calendar  round  date  13  Ahau  8  Zac  (?),  which 
probably  corresponds  to  August  29th,  A.D.  764,  and 
probably  commemorates  the  inception  of  the  calendar 
on  August  31st,  97  B.C. 


The  Maya  Collection  of  Field  Museum  99 

The  next  and  last  cast  on  exhibit  represents  Altar 
K,  also  from  Copan.  The  top  of  this  altar  is  plain  and 
roughly  finished, — an  unusual  feature;  furthermore 
there  is  no  decorative  element.  The  four  sides  are  cov- 
ered with  a  double  band  of  hieroglyphs,  thirty-six  in 
all.  The  inscription  opens  at  the  top  left-hand  corner 
of  the  north  side  of  the  monument  with  an  introduc- 
tory sign  surmounted  by  the  Venus  sign  (in  the  cast 
unfortunately  obliterated)  and  followed  by  the  date  9 
Cycles  12  Katuns  16  Tuns  7  Uinals  and  8  Kins,  which 
brings  us  to  the  day  3  Lamat.  The  "day"  sign  does  not 
bear  much  resemblance  to  the  usual  hieroglyph  for 
Lamat  (see  Fig.  7),  but  8  Kins  must  be  followed  by 
the  day  Lamat.  On  the  west  side  is  the  corresponding 
"month"  sign  16  Yax.  The  Gregorian  equivalent  is 
September  4th,  a.d.  688,  the  date  of  an  inferior  con- 
junction of  Venus  with  the  sun,  and  for  this  reason 
the  Venus  symbol  figures  at  the  opening  of  the  inscrip- 
tion. It  is  only  now  being  realized  what  a  fundamen- 
tally important  part  the  planet  Venus  played  in  the 
life  and  ritual  of  the  Maya  priest-astronomers. 

The  exhibit  of  Maya  archaeology  (Case  14,  Hall  8) 
contains  a  number  of  pieces  of  pottery  and  other  small 
objects,  mostly  from  Chichen  Itza  and  other  cities  in 
northern  Yucatan.  The  carved  shell  (Fig.  11)  is  one 
of  the  finest  Maya  pieces  extant.  The  carving  which 
represents  a  warrior  in  the  best  Old  Empire  style  was 
found  at  Tula,  the  old  capital  of  the  Toltecs,  north  of 
Mexico  City.  Needless  to  say,  this  is  far  outside  the 
Maya  area.  It  is  conjectured  that  the  piece  must  have 
found  its  way  so  far  north  in  the  course  of  trade.  A 
very  fine  jade  piece  was  found  under  somewhat  simi- 
lar conditions  in  the  ruins  of  San  Juan  Teotihuacan,  a 
very  important  Toltec  centre  not  far  from  Mexico 
City.  Very  fine  pieces  such  as  these  were  no  doubt 
preserved  for  centuries;  indeed,  fine  jade  ornaments 
of  the  Old  Empire  period  have  been  taken  out  of  the 


100  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

sacred  well  at  Chichen  Itza,  which  must  have  been 
heirlooms  centuries  old  when  they  were  cast  into  the 
water.  The  full-length  clay  figurine  from  Palenque 
(Fig.  10)  is  a  very  fine  example  of  Maya  modelling 
in  clay.  Although  pottery  heads  and  full-length  fig- 
urines are  very  common  at  all  Aztec  and  Toltec  sites, 
up  to  the  present  few  have  been  found  at  Maya  centres. 

A  number  of  interesting  objects  including  the 
beautiful,  though  broken,  alabaster  vase,  the  copper 
bells,  jade  and  crystal  beads,  carved  jade  pieces,  and 
several  of  the  tripod  bowls  were  obtained  from  a  deep 
burial  shaft  in  a  temple  at  Chichen  Itza  by  Edward  H. 
Thompson.  On  cleaning  the  debris  from  the  floor  of 
the  temple,  the  entrance  to  a  square  shaft  situated  in 
the  centre  of  the  floor  was  discovered.  When  cleared 
of  debris,  the  shaft  was  found  to  reach  a  depth  of 
thirty  feet.  The  walls  were  lined  with  cut  stone.  At 
different  depths  were  found  several  graves.  At  a 
depth  of  thirty  feet  there  was  a  small  square  chamber. 
In  the  centre  of  the  floor  a  square  stone  slab  was  found 
removable,  and  below  this  a  flight  of  steps  some  six 
feet  in  depth  led  to  a  short  sloping  passage  at  the  end 
of  which  was  a  pit  no  less  than  fifty-two  feet  deep.  At 
the  bottom  of  this  pit,  at  a  depth  of  ninety  feet,  were 
found  most  of  these  objects.  No  other  burial  of  such 
a  type  has  as  yet  been  found  at  any  other  Maya  site. 

A  number  of  flint  implements,  arrowheads,  knives, 
etc.,  give  a  good  idea  of  the  tools  used  by  the  Mayas. 

A  very  fine  broken  bowl  from  Tekax  in  northern 
Yucatan  shows  Maya  incised  pottery  at  its  best.  The 
seated  figure  with  hand  to  shoulder  may  represent  the 
sun  god,  judging  by  the  treatment  of  the  hair  (Fig.  12) . 

The  incised  tripod  bowl  from  Champoton  (Plate 
XI)  is  a  very  fine  specimen  well  worthy  of  taking  its 
place  with  the  finest  aboriginal  pottery  in  America. 

Two  fine  vases  from  Xkichmook  and  Chichen  Itza 
are  illustrated  in  Plate  XII.    Xkichmook,  which  in 


The  Maya  Collection  of  Field  Museum  101 

Maya  means  "buried  beauty,"  is  the  name  of  a  site 
south  of  Xul  in  Central  Yucatan  discovered  by  Ed- 
ward H.  Thompson,  American  consul  in  Yucatan,  in 
1886.  The  results  of  his  investigations  have  been  pub- 
lished by  this  Museum  (Anthropological  Series,  Vol. 
II,  No.  3) .  Of  great  beauty  is  the  jade  fish  (Plate  XIII) 
found  also  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Thompson  at  Chichen  Itza. 
The  Maya  civilization  probably  achieved  its  great- 
est cultural  advances  in  the  realms  of  chronology  and 
architecture.  Unfortunately  neither  of  these  subjects 
lends  itself  to  exposition  in  a  museum.  A  museum 
deals  with  concrete  facts,  with  examples  of  the  arts 
and  crafts  of  people.  It  depends  on  the  individual 
whether  that  people  in  whom  he  is  interested  jdelds  its 
spirit  and  stepping  out  of  its  tomb  of  exhibition  cases 
and  scientific  monographs  comes  to  life. 

J.  Eric  Thompson. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  MAYA  HISTORY 

OLD  EMPIRE 

B.C.        Maya  Date 
Aug.  29th         97      7-12-19-17-7       Probable  date  of  inauguration  of 

Maya  calendar. 

A.D. 
March  15th      162    8-6-2-4-17  The   Tuxutla   statuette,    earliest 

dated  Maya  object. 
April  11th        327    8-14-10-13-15     Earliest  deciphered  Stele  at  Uax- 

actun,  earliest  contemporaneous 
monument  in  Maya  area. 
633    9-10-0-0-0  Close  of  Early  Period  of  Old  Em- 

pire. 
731    9-15-0-0-0  Close  of  Middle  Period  of  Old 

Empire. 
889    10-3-0-0-0  Close  of  Late  Period  of  Old  Empire 


Marchjlst 
May  12th 


NEW  EMPIRE 

564 

9-6-10-0-0 

Earliest  date  in  Yucatan  Stele  I 
Tulum. 

613 

9-9-0-0-0 

Earliest  date  at  Macanxoc. 

711 

9-14-0-0-0 

Itza  settle  at  Chichen  Itza. 

869 

10-2-10-0-0 

Initial  series  lintel  at  Chichen 
Itza. 

928 

10-5-0-0-0 

Itzk  abandon  Chichen  Itz^. 

948 

10-6-0-0-0 

Tutul  Xiu  set  out  from  Nonoual. 

968 

10-7-0-0-0 

Itza  seize  Champotvm. 

987 

10-8-0-0-0 

Tutal  Xiu  discover  Bakhalal. 

1027 

10-10-0-0-0 

Tutal  Xiu  settle  at  Chichen  Itza. 

1145 

10-16-0-0-0 

Chichen  Itza  destroyed. 

Tutul  Xiu  move  to  Champotun. 

1204 

10-19-0-0-0 

Champotun  destroyed  and  aban- 
doned by  Itza. 

1263 

11-2-0-0-0 

Itza  resettle  Chichen  Itzi.  Tutul 
Xiu  establish  themselves  at 
Uxmal.  Foundation  of  triple 
alliance. 

1461 

11-12-0-0-0 

Triple  alliance  collapses  through 
war.    Chichen  Itza  abandoned 

4 

by  Itza,  who  move  to  Lake  Pe- 
ten.    Mayapan  destroyed. 

1480 

11-13-0-0-0 

End  of  war. 

1500 

11-14-0-0-0 

Pestilence, 

1520 

11-15-0-0-0 

First  Spanish  pass  coast  of  Yuca- 
tan 

1539 

11-16-0-0-0 

Country  comes  under  Spanish  rule 
1541. 

102 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  REFERENCES 

The  following  books  are  recommended  to  the  general 
reader  who  may  wish  to  obtain  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of 
Maya  civilization.  Those  marked  with  an  asterisk  are  specially 
recommended  as  being  of  general  interest.  Numerous  papers 
on  the  subject  may  be  consulted  in  the  numbers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Anthropologist,  Man,  and  the  International  Congresses 
of  Americanists. 

BowDiTCH,  C.  p. — The  Numeration,  Calendar  Systems  and 
Astronomical  Knowledge  of  the  Mayas.  Cambridge,  Mass., 
1910. 

Brinton,  D.  G. — The  Maya  Chronicles.  Library  of  American 
Aboriginal  Literature,  Vol.  I,  Philadelphia,  1882. 

COGOLLUDO,  D.  L. — Historia  de  Yucatan.  Madrid,  1688.  Merida, 
1868. 

Gann,  T.  W  F. — Mounds  in  Northern  British  Honduras. 
Nineteenth  Report  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Wash- 
ington, 1898. 

The  Maya  Indians  of  Southern  Yucatan  and  Northern 
British  Honduras.  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Bul- 
letin 64,  Washington,  1916. 

*In  an  Unknown  Land.  London  (Duckworth),  1924. 

♦Mystery  Cities.     London   (Duckworth),  1925. 

Gordon,  G.  B. — Prehistoric  Ruins  of  Copan,  Honduras.  Memoirs 
of  the  Peabody  Museum,  Vol.  I,  No.  1,  Boston,  1895. 

Researches  in  the  Uloa  Valley.  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  No.  4, 
Boston,   1898. 

Caverns  of  Copan,  Honduras.  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  No.  5, 
Boston,  1898. 

The  Hieroglyphic  Stairway,  Ruins  of  Copan.  Ibid., 
Vol.  I,  No.  6,  Boston,  1902, 

Holmes,  W.  H. — Archaeological  Studies  among  the  Ancient 
Cities  of  Mexico.  Field  Museum,  Anthropological  Series, 
Vol.  I,  Chicago,  1895-97. 

*JoYCE,  T.  A. — Mexican  Archaeology.  London  and  New  York 
(Lee  Warner),  1914. 

*  Guide  to  the  Maudslay  Collection.  British  Museum, 
London,  1923. 

*Landa,  Diego  de. — Relacion  de  las  cosas  de  Yucatan.  Edited 
by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  with  commentaries  and  French 
translation.     Paris,  1864. 

LoTHROP,  S.  K. — Tulum,  an  Archaeological  Study  of  the  East 
Coast  of  Yucatan.  Carnegie  Institution,  Publication 
No.  355,  1924. 

103 


104  Bibliographical  Rkferences 

Maler,  T. — Researches  in  the  Central  Portion  of  the  Usama- 
cintla  Valley.  Memoirs  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  Vol.  II, 
Nos.  1  and  2,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1901  and  1903. 

Explorations  of  the  Upper  Usamacintla  and  Adjacent 
Region.    Ibid.,  Vol.  IV,  No.  1,  1908. 

Explorations  in  the  Department  of  Peten,  Guatemala 
and  Adjacent  Region.  Ibid.,  Vol.  IV,  Nos.  2  and  3,  1908 
and  1910. 

Explorations  in  the  Department  of  Peten,  Tikal.  Ibid., 
Vol.  V,  No.  1,  1911. 

*Maudslay,  a.  p. — Biologia-Centrali  Americana.  4  vols,  of 
text  and  plates.    London  (Dulan  and  Co.),  1902. 

♦MORLEY,  S.  G. — Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Maya  Hiero- 
glyphs. Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Bulletin  57,  Wash- 
ington, 1915. 

The  Inscriptions  at  Copan.  Carnegie  Institution,  Pub- 
lication No.  219,  Washington,  1920. 

SOLis  Alcala,  E. — Lo3  Ahau-Katunes  del  manuscrito  de  Mani. 
Merida,  1925. 

*Spinden,  H.  J. — ^A  Study  of  Maya  Art.  Memoirs  of  the  Pea- 
body  Museum,  Vol.  VI,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1913. 

*Ancient  Civilizations  of  Mexico  and  Central  America. 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Handbook  Series 
No.  3,  New  York,  1922. 

♦Stephens,  J.  L. — Central  America,  Chiapas  and  Yucatan.  2 
vols.     New  York,  1841. 

♦Incidents  of  Travel  in  Yucatan.  2  vols.  New  York, 
1843. 

Thompson,  J.  Eric. — A  Correlation  of  Maya  and  European 
Calendars.  Field  Museum,  Anthropological  Series,  Vol. 
XVII,  No.  1,  1927. 

TozzER,  A,  M. — A  Comparative  Study  of  the  Maya  and  Lacon- 
dones.     New  York,  1907. 

Villagutierre  y  Sotomayor. — Historia  de  la  conquista  de  la 
provincia  del  Itza.  Madrid,  1701. 


INDEX 


Abstinence,  62,  70,  74,  84 

Adobe,  12 

Adultery,  68,  73 

Agriculture,   2,   4,   13,   14,   19,   21, 

25,  76 
Aguilar  Geronimo  de,  22 
Ahau  Kan  Mai,  60 
Ahau  Kin  Mai,  60 
Ah  Puch,  32 
Alabaster,  100 

Alcoholic  beverage,  68,  72,  77 
Alliance,  triple,  17 
Allotments,  76 
Altars,  62,  94,  96,  97,  98,  99 
Amber,  80 
Arch,  88,  89 
Archaics,  5  et  seq. 

Architecture,  16,  17,  19,  75,  88  et 

seq. 
Armor,  86 
Arrows,  20,  62,  86 
Asia,  2 

Astronomy,  10,  11,  58,  60 
Atitlan,  lake,  39 
Atlantean  figures,  19 
Avoidance  of  Women,  74,  77,  78,  84 
Axe-blades  of  copper,  76,  86 
Azcapotzalco,  4,  5,  6 
Aztecs,  5,  21,  36,  61,  63,  100 

Bakhalal,  16,  22,  80,  84,  88 

Ball  Game,  see  Tlaxtli 

Banquets,  77 

Baptisms,  68,  72 

Beards,  30,  51,  71 

Beds,  76 

Bee-keeping,  44,  76 

Bells,  33,  100 

Bleeding,  61,  64,  65 

Blow-gun,  41 

Bolon  Zacab,  65 

Bones,  2,  63,  64,  72,  78,  86 


Bow,  20,  62,  86 

Brawls,  78 

Brazil,  3 

Breast-plates,  94 

British,  Honduras,  92,  93 

Buffoonery,  67 

Buildings,  civil,  12,  75;  decoration 

of,  17,  19;  religious,  19,  75,  88, 

89 

Burial,  63,  74,  75,  100 

Cabrakan,  41,  42 

Cacao,  76,  77,  80 

Calabash,  65,  78 

Calendar,  10,  46  et  seq.,  60 

Campeche,  19,  61 

Cannibalism,  ceremonial,  22,  63,  87 

Canoes,  87 

Carousals,  66,  68,  74,  77,  78 

Cenote,  15,  18,  63 

Chac,  18,  25,  83 

Chacmool,  94 

Chacs,  27,  32,  61,  63,  67,  68,  72 

Chac  Xib  Chac,  18 

Chakanputun,  see  Champotun 

Champotun,  16,  100 

Chastity,  74 

Chilan,  60,  61 

Chilan  Balaam,  14 

Children,  67,  71,  74 

Chile,  3 

Chili,  77 

Chichen  Itza,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  58, 

61,  63,  79,  84,  94,  99,  100,  101 
Chronicles,  see  Chilan  Balaam 
Cities  of  Old  Empire  abandoned,  12 
Cleanliness,  72 
Clothes,  11,  61,  66,  67,  72,  77,  79, 

80 
Cocom,  17,  18,  20,  75 
Codices,  16,  24,  34,  66,  74,  78 
CogoUudo  Diego  Lopez,  24,  81,  87 

105 


106 


Index 


Colombia,  6 
Colonnades,  18,  19 

Confession,  68  • 

Cooperation,  76 

Copal,  see  incense 

Copan,  10,   11,  32,  58,  90,  94,  96, 

97,  98,  99 
Copper,   3,  80,  84,  100;   necklaces 

of,  80 
Correlation,  9 
Cortez,  9,  22,  87 
Costa  Rica,  64 
Cotton,  66,  76,  79,  86 
Creation  myths,  40  et  seq. 
Cremation,  74 
Crystal,  100 
Currency,  74,  76 

Dancing,  33,  62,  66,  68,  78 

Death,  33,  35,  44,  47,  51,  74,  96 

Deer,  21 

Deformation  of  heads,  71 

Desertion,  73 

Divination,  81  J    .  r;  i 

Divorce,  73 

Dog,  65,  66,  68 

Door  Portals,  19 

Dreams,  81 

Drums,  6,  66,  78 

Drunkenness,  see  carousals 

Dualism  of  army,  84;  religious,  84 


Figurines,  5,  6,  92,  100 

Fire,  dance,  66;  discovery  of,  45; 

new,  67 
Filed  teeth,  51,  80,  98 
Fish,  sacrificed,  64,  65;  jade,  101 
Flood  myth,  40 
Flutes,  78 

Food,  13,  76,  77,  78,  84 
Forstemann,  27 
Fortifications,  86 
Frescoes,  24,  75,  84,  93 
Fruit-trees,  21,  41 
Furniture,  43,  72,  76,  77 
Future  life,  33 

Gann,  Dr.  T.,  92,  93 

Gauntlets,  80 

Generalship,  61 

Geological  conditions,  5,  15 

God,  of  death,  32,  35,  51 ;  of  drink- 
ing, 94;  of  earthquakes,  41;  of 
human  sacrifice,  34;  of  maize, 
32,  67 ;  of  polar  star,  30 ;  of  rain, 
19,  24,  25;  of  sky,  29,  30,  64; 
of  sun,  30,  35,  37,  47,  51,  64,  80, 
83,  98,  100;  of  thunder,  25,  27, 
29,  45;  of  wind,  27,  40 

Goddess,  34,  35 

Gold,  18,  41,  64 

Goodman,  9 

Guardian  of  children,  75 

Guerrero,  22 

Gukanatz,  40 


Ear-plugs,  80,  94 

Eclipses,  82 

Ecuador,  6 

Education,  60,  67,  74 

Eecatl,  27,  29 

Exclusion  of  Women,  see  Avoidance 

Fagade,  16,  89 
Famine,,  21 

Fasting,  62,  68,  70,  74,  84 
Featherwork,  66,  67,  72,  76,  79,  80 
Feathered  Serpent,  17,  18,  19,  25, 
27,  29,  40,  96,  97 


Haab,  55 

Hacavitz,  44 

Hair,  80,  81,  82,  100 

Heads,   broad,   3;    deformation   of, 

71;   long,  3 
Helmet,  86 
Hemp,  79 
Hide,  79,  86 
Holcanes,  84 
Holmes,  Dr.  W.  H.,  88 
Honey,  76,  77 

Honey  wine,  see  alcoholic  beverage 
Horse  deity,  87 


Index 


107 


Horses,  first  seen  by  Mayas,  87  League  of  Mayapan,  17 

Hotun,  90,  95  Leglets,  80 

Houses,  12,  75;  deserted  on  death,      Le  Plongeon  Augustin,  94 


74 

Huaxtec,  9,  10 
Huitzilopochtli,  36 
Human  sacrifice,  18,  22,  34,  45,  61, 

62,  6 
Hunabku,  40 
Hunahau,  34 

Hunahpu,  40,  41,  42,  43,  44 
Hun  Batz,  43 
Hun  Chuen,  43 
Hunhunapu,  42 
Hunnac  Ceel,  18 
Hurakan,  40,  44 
Hurricane,  21 

Incense,  64,  65,  67,  68 

Inheritance,  77 

Inquisition,  22 

Insult,  hair  cut  as,  81 

Itza,  16,  18,  19,  20,  87 

Itzamal,  30 

Itzamna,  30,  37,  40,  64,  67,  83 

Itzamna   Kauil,   65 

Iztab,  34 

Jade,  9,  18,  64,  80,  94,  99,  100,  101 

Jadeite,  see  Jade 

Jawbones  of  dead  removed,  86 

Jimenez,  39 

Joyce  T.  A.,  25,  35 

Kakchiquel,  39 

Kan-U-Uayeb,  65 

Kinich  Ahau,  30,  47,  64,  83 

Knife,  stone,  62,  63 

Kuculan,  17,  19,  25,  29,  37,  40,  67 

Labrets,  80 
Lacondones,  70,  84 
Lances,  78 

Landa,    Bishop    Diego    de,    19,    23, 
24,  30,  32,  39,  63,  64,  71,  76,  84 
Language,  9,  15,  16,  47,  49 


Lime,  76 
Lintels,  90 
Loans,  76 

Magic,  2,  25,  41,  43,  44,  68 

Maize,  3,  9,  13,  14,  32,  44,  64,  65, 

72,  74,  76,  77,  81 
Mani,  67 
Maoris,  37 
Margerine,  77 
Marriage,  73,  81 
Mars,  68 

Masks,  27,  80,  90,  94,  96,  97 
Match-makers,  73 
Mayapan,  17,  18,  19,  20,  66 
Medicine,  60,  74 
Menche,  10 
Mercenaries,  61,  84 
Mercury,  58 

Mexicans,  12,  18,  19,  61,  63,  79,  86 
Mexico  City,  4,  5,  99 
Militia,  84 
Mithra,  36 
Mitla,  87 
Mitnal,  34 

Money,  see  Currency 
Monkeys,  32,  40,  43 
Monotheism,  38 

Monster,  two-headed,  35,  97,  98 
Montezuma,  9 
Moon,  30,  44,  57,  98 
Morley,  Dr.  S.  G.,  9,  95 
Mortar,  89 
Mourning,  74 
Museum,  British,  10;  National,  of 

Mexico,  94;  of  Basle,  10 
Mythology,  40  et  seq. 

Nacon,  60,  66,  68,  84 
Nahua,  18,  20,  27,  29,  61 
Naranjo,  11,  15,  57,  96 
Naval  warfare,  87 
New  Fire,  67 


108 


Index 


New  Year  ceremonies,  64  et  seq.,      Quilts,  86 


82 
Nose  ornaments,  80,  94 

Obsidian,  86 
Ointment,  62,  67,  81 
Old  Women,  dance  of,  81 
Ordeals,  42  et  seq. 
Owl,  33,  47 

Pacific,  3,  17 

Paint,  6,  10,  62,  67,  86,  91,  92 

Palenque,  10,  11,  92,  100 

Palisades,  86 

Panuco  River,  9 

Pepper,  70,  74 

Perfume,  72,  81 

Peten,  10,  20,  87 

Phoneticism,  47,  49 

Piedras  Negras,  11,  51,  61 

Plague,  21 

Pleiades,  42 


Quirigua,  11,  91,  94,  95 

Rattles,  78 
Rattlesnake,  18 
Rayfish,  65 

Renaissance,  Maya,  16 
Robbery,  68,  76 
Roof,  flat,  19 
Roof-comb,  89 
Rubber,  79 
Rubble,  89 

Sacraments,  60 

Sacrifice,  60  et  seq. ;  human,  18,  22, 

34,  45,  61,  62,  65,  66,  80,  86 
Sail,  88 

Sailing-canoes,  87 
Saint  Thomas,  68 
Salt,  70,  76,  86 
Sandals,  45,  79,  96 
San  Salvador,  94 


Plumed  serpent,  17,  18,  19,  25,  27.      ?^"**  ^^"^'  ^^ 


29,  40 
Poison,  42,  86 
Polar  Star,  30 
Polygamy,  73 
Popol  Vuh,  39  et  seq. 
Potato,  3 

Pottery,  2,  4,  5,  6,  44,  92,  99,  100 
Presents,  73,  77,  78 
Priesthood,  60 


Saturn,  58 

Schellhas,  Dr.  Paul,  24,  30,  32 

Sculpture,  12,  16,  19,  32,  39,  71,  80, 
90,  91,  92,  94  et  seq. 

Shells,  76,  99 ;  conch,  used  as  trum- 
pets, 78 

Shields,  84 

Siberia,  3 


Prisoners,  enslaved,  87;  sacrificed,  Sierra  Madre  Mountains,  14 

61,  63  '  Skins,  2,  84 

Prophecy,  60;  of  arrival  of  Span-  Skirts,  80 

iards,  21 


Puebla,  18 

Punishment,  73,  74,  76,  81 
Purification,  72 
Pyramids,  11,  90 

Quarternary  Age,  2 
Quen  Santo,  14,  39 
Quetzalcoatl,  18,  27,  58 
Quiche,  39,  40,  45,  66 


Skull,  deformation  of,  71;  treated 

after  death,  75 
Slaves,  bought  for  sacrifice,  62 
Slavery,  76,  87 
Smoking,  73 
Snake  charming,  82 
Snakes,  25;  two-headed,  35,  96,  97, 

98 
Soil,  exhaustion  of,  14 
Soldiers,  18,  20 
Sorcerers,  41,  67,  74 


Index 


109 


Spear  throwers,  84 
Spinden,  Dr.  H.  J.,  90 
Squashes,  3 
Squinting,  71 
Stairways,  11,  19,  90 
Stools,  72,  77 
Stratigraphy,  4 
Stelae,  10,  11,  32,  90,  91,  94 
Stilts,  66 
Stucco,  16,  90 
Succession,  75 
Suicide,  22,  34 
Superstition,  81,  82 

Tabasco,  61,  76 

Tables,  77 

Tattoo,  6,  71,  80 

Tayasal,  20 

Tecpanec,  5 

Teeth,  filing  of,  51,  80,  98;  inlaying 

of,  with  jade,  80 
Tekax,  100 
Teotihuacan,  5,  99 
Texcoco,  lake,  5 
Textiles,  6,  80 
Theft,  68,  76 

Thompson,  Edward  H.,  100,  101 
Tikal,  10,  11,  12 
Tlaloc,  25,  29,  35 
Tlalocs,  27 

Tlaxtli,  19,  42,  43,  44,  79 
Tohil,  45 
Toldeo,  24 
Toltec,  18,  93,  99 
Tonalamatl,  53,  55 
Tonatiuh,  35 
Totonac,  9 
Trade,  76 
Travel,  63,  76,  78 
Trophies,  63,  86 
Trumpets,  78 
Tula,  99 
Tulum,  15 
Tunculuchhu,  47 
Turbans,  94,  97,  98 
Turkey,    domesticated,    76;    sacri- 
ficed, 65,  87 


Tuxtla,  San  Andres,  9,  10 
Twins,    activities    of,    43    et   seq.; 

become  sun  and  moon,  44 
Tzolkin,  53 

Uaxactun,  9,  10,  11,  58 
Uloa  Valley,  76 
Usamacinta  River,  84 
Uxmal,  17,  88,  90,  94 

Veiled  Majesty,  45 
Venezuela,  6 
Venison,  65 
Venus,  58,  96,  97,  99 
Vera  Cruz,  9,  18 
Vukub  Caki,  40,  41,  42 
Vukub  Hunapu,  42 

Warfare,  12,  17,  18,  20,  34,  61,  84 
et  seq. 

Warriors,  34,  63,  68 

Whistles,  78 

Widows,  73 

Widowers,  73 

Wine,  honey,  68,  72,  77 

Witches,  82 

Wood  carving,  19,  12 

Wooden  men,  40 

Wooden  statuettes,  75 

Women,  adultery  of,  73;  attend 
husbands,  77;  avoidance  of,  74, 
77,  78,  84;  camp  followers,  84; 
dress  of,  78,  80;  education  of,  74; 
hair  of,  81;  jealous,  74;  moral, 
74;  ointment  of,  81;  old,  66,  72, 
81;  orgies  of,  74;  sacrificed,  63; 
tattoo  of,  80 

Xbalanque,  41,  42,  43 
Xibalba,  42,  43 
Xipe,  34 
Xiu,  16 

Xkichmook,  100 
Xmukane,  40 
Xpiyakok,  40 
Xul,  101 
Xulab,  82 


110  Index 

Yaxchilan,  10  Zapotec,  89 

Year  bearers,  55,  64  Zero,  46 

Yucatan,  settlement  of,  15  Zilil,  72 

Yucca,  77  Zipacna,  41,  42 

Yum  Kaax,  32  Zuyua,  15,  16,  47,  49 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
DEC  1  9  1927 

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LEAFLET  25. 


STELE  AT  QUIRIGUA. 

A  superb  example  of  Maya  art.    Height  35  feet. 

After  Maudslay. 


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LEAFLET  25. 


STELE  11  AT  YAXCHILAN  (Mench^). 

Kneeling  figures  with  crossed  arms  before  a  priest 

wearing  the  mask  of  the  sun  god. 

After  Malar. 


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LINTEL  24  AT  YAXCHILAN  (Mench6). 

The  kneeling  penitent  is  engaged  in  making  a  blood  sacrifice  by  passing  a  knotted  cord 

with  thorns  through  his  tongue. 

After  Maudslay. 


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LEAFLET  25. 


LINTEL  15  AT  YAXCHILAN  (Mench«). 

A  richly  srarbed  personag-e  kneels  before  a  personification  of  the  snake  s^>d. 

In  his  arms  he  holds  a  basket. 

After  Maudslay. 


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LEAFLET  25. 


PLATE  VII. 


A  WARRIOR  FROM  A  FRESCO  AT  CHICHEN  ITZA. 

The  warrior  wears  the  mask  of  god  B.    In  his  hand  he  holds  a  spear. 

After  a  water-color  by  Mrs.  A.  Morris. 


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LEAFLET  25. 


PLATE  IX. 


A  SECTION  OF  THE  FACADE  OF  THE  GOVERNOR'S  PALACE,   UXMAL. 

Showing  the  rich  geometrical  decorations  and  Maya  vaulting. 

From  photograph  of  J.  Eric  Thompson. 


LEAFLET  25. 


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MAYA  VAULTED  CHAMBER,   CHICHEN  ITZA. 
Courtesy  of  Carnegie  Institution,  Washington  D.  C. 


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LEAFLET  25. 


PLATE  XIII. 


JADE  WORK. 

A  carved  fish  and  a  small  figurine  from  Chichen  Itza. 

Case  14,  Hall  8. 


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MODERN   MAYA  IN   PROFILE. 
From  photograph  of  J.  Eric  Thompson. 


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